SCOTUS to hear challenge to Hawaii law banning guns on private property

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments on a Second Amendment case out of Hawaii on Tuesday, Jan. 20, that could set precedent nationwide.

Wolford v. Lopez is an ongoing case dating back to June 2023, when three plaintiffs from Maui County sued over new state legislation that criminally prohibits a person with a concealed carry permit from bringing a handgun onto 15 types of property. Prior state law allowed a person with a carry permit to bring firearms onto private property that is open to the public unless the property owner prohibited it. Under new law, carrying a firearms onto private property that is open to the public is generally prohibited unless the owner affirmatively gives permission or by posting clear and conspicuous signs — somewhat similar to Ohio law on places of worship.

Four other states have enacted comparable laws: California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey.

Hawaii residents Jason Wolford, Alison Wolford, and Atom Kasprzycki, and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition assert that the law violates their constitutional rights under the Second and Fourteenth amendments. Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez is defending it.

Here in Ohio: Several gun-related bills in progress. See where BFA stands on them.

The plaintiffs first took their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which in September 2024 upheld the state law, concluding that "a national tradition likely exists of prohibiting the carrying of firearms on private property without the owner’s oral or written consent."

At the center of the case is the Bruen test — a 2022 landmark SCOTUS ruling (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen) that expanded gun rights, especially the right to carry a handgun in public.

The Supreme Court will consider two primary questions:

1. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding that Hawaii may presumptively prohibit the carry of handguns by licensed concealed-carry permit holders on private property open to the public unless the property owner affirmatively gives express permission to the handgun carrier.
2. Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in solely relying on post-Reconstruction Era and later laws in applying Bruen's text, history, and tradition test.

We'll watch this one closely.