Supreme Court voids Hawaii law that required permission to carry handguns on private property open to the public
The 6-3 decision sides with gun-rights advocates, allowing firearms in businesses like stores and restaurants unless owners explicitly ban them.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii law that made it a crime to carry a handgun onto private property open to the public without the owner's express consent. The 6-3 decision, with the conservative majority led by Justice Samuel Alito, found that the 2023 statute places an undue burden on the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense.
The ruling
Alito wrote that requiring gun owners to obtain permission in advance from property owners, even for businesses like stores, hotels, and gas stations that are open to the public, violates the constitutional right to carry.
The law hobble[s] what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.
The decision does not affect Hawaii's separate ban on carrying firearms in designated sensitive places such as beaches, bars, and restaurants serving alcohol, which was not before the court. That provision is being challenged in lower courts.
Background and the vampire rule
The law, sometimes called a "vampire rule" because it required permission akin to vampire lore, was enacted in 2023 after the Supreme Court's landmark 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Bruen established that any gun regulation must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." Hawaii argued that the law balanced the right to bear arms with property owners' rights, but the challengers -- three Maui residents with concealed-carry licenses and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition -- said it effectively eviscerated their Second Amendment rights across most public spaces.
Impact on other states
Similar presumptive-restriction laws exist in at least four other states: California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey. The ruling creates a split with a decision by the 2nd Circuit that had struck down a similar New York law, and it may open the door to challenges in those states. The Trump administration had urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Hawaii law.
Broader gun rights landscape
The decision is the latest in a string of gun cases following Bruen. In 2024, the court upheld a federal law barring domestic violence offenders from owning guns (Rahimi), but also struck down the ATF's ban on bump stocks (Garland v Cargill). Earlier this term, the justices limited the reach of a federal gun law used to prosecute President Biden's son Hunter, though the case was mooted by a pardon. Since Bruen, nearly 100 gun laws have been successfully challenged nationwide, according to an analysis by SMU, the Brennan Center, and the RAND Corporation.
