The Supreme Court said the right to carry a firearm is a constitutional right, not a special privilege.
Hawaii promptly started looking for a workaround.
In a new op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Crime Prevention Research Center President John Lott argues that Hawaii is blatantly trying to dodge the Constitution.
The case, Wolford v. Lopez, challenges a Hawaii law passed after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision.
That ruling said states can’t force people to prove a special “need” for a concealed-carry permit.
In other words, the right to carry a firearm is a right, not a favor from the government.
Instead of complying in good faith, Hawaii and several other blue states took a different approach.
They made it legal to carry in theory, but banned it in so many places that there was almost no reason to do so.
Traditionally, a person with a valid permit could carry in most businesses open to the public unless the owner said no.
Hawaii reversed that.
Under its law, carrying is banned by default in places like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and malls unless the owner gives clear permission.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, claiming there is a “national tradition” of banning guns on private property unless the owner explicitly allows them.
Lott says that history simply doesn’t exist.
There were no broad laws in 1791, when the Second Amendment was adopted, or in 1868, when it was applied to the states, that banned lawful carry in everyday businesses.
Even so, Hawaii’s attorney general claims the law fits historical traditions because guns were “not commonly carried in public.”
Attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C. told the court that many major retailers already ban firearms.
Lott points out that several of the stores they cite, like Walmart and Walgreens, are talking about open carry, not concealed carry. They’re not the same thing.
The research used to defend the law is shaky, too.
One brief claims people carrying guns are more than four times as likely to be shot.
The catch is that the data lumps law-abiding permit holders together with criminals who are carrying illegally.
And those are two very different groups.
About 21 million Americans hold concealed-carry permits, and millions more carry legally in constitutional carry states.
Permit holders are among the most law-abiding citizens there are.
In Florida and Texas, for example, permit holders lose their licenses for gun violations at rates measured in thousandths of a percent.
Critics say more guns in public spaces increase risk and confusion during emergencies.
But the data shows that armed civilians rarely interfere with police, and almost never harm bystanders.
If the Court sides with the plaintiffs, it could put the breaks on “gun-free” zones that exist more on paper than in practice.
In reality, criminals don’t follow posted rules. But law-abiding citizens do.
The Supreme Court’s decision could finally force states like Hawaii to deal honestly with the Second Amendment.
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