The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii law that banned guns on private property open to the public where the owner hadn’t explicitly condoned the carrying of firearms. In the ruling, the conservative majority said the law was unconstitutional, as it hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.
Background
The law, passed after a 2022 ruling from the high court expanding gun rights, was seen as a major setback for gun-safety advocates who had been looking for new ways to limit the presence of guns in retail stores and in other public spaces. The 6-3 ruling along conservative-liberal lines is a significant development in the ongoing debate over gun rights in the United States.
The dispute over the Hawaii law is the latest case that asked the justices to grapple with the 2022 ruling, known as Bruen, that laid out a historical test for assessing the constitutionality of gun laws. Under the 2022 opinion, restrictions regulating Second Amendment conduct can only be upheld by courts if there were similar laws that existed at the time of the constitution’s drafting.
Reaction
Defenders of Hawaii’s law tried to frame the dispute around property rights, rather than the Second Amendment, and Hawaii’s lawyers argued that even if the justices concluded the law does touch on constitutionally protected conduct, there are enough historical analogues allowing it to be upheld. However, the conservative majority agreed with the challengers, with Justice Samuel Alito writing that the law “burdens those wishing to exercise their Second Amendment right.”
A lawyer for the challengers cheered the ruling, calling Hawaii’s law a “de facto ban on public carry.” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, whose state has a similar law, said in a statement that this “badly mistaken decision will make it harder for businesses open to the public to exclude guns from their property, putting additional burdens on them to keep their patrons safe.”
Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.
