US Supreme Court Strikes Down Hawaii Law Requiring Consent To Carry Firearms On Private Property Open To Public

The US Supreme Court has struck down a Hawaii law that required licensed firearm permit holders to obtain a property owner's express permission before carrying a gun onto private property open to the public, holding that the measure violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution.

In a 6-3 ruling in Wolford v. Lopez, the Court invalidated a key provision of Hawaii's post-Bruen gun regulations. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that the law improperly reversed the long-standing common law principle that individuals may enter businesses and other property open to the public unless the owner expressly withdraws consent. By requiring affirmative permission specifically for firearms, the law imposed a significant burden on licensed gun owners, exposing them to criminal liability for carrying firearms into ordinary public-facing establishments such as grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations.

Hawaii defended the law as a property rights measure rather than a firearm restriction, arguing that property owners should control whether guns are permitted on their premises. The state also relied on historical laws regulating armed entry onto private land to justify the restriction.

The Supreme Court rejected these arguments, finding that the historical examples primarily addressed trespassing and unlawful hunting rather than carrying firearms in businesses open to the public. Applying the constitutional test laid down in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the majority concluded that Hawaii failed to identify a sufficiently similar historical tradition to support the restriction.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett agreed that property regulations affecting firearm possession remain subject to Second Amendment scrutiny. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, arguing that the case primarily concerned property rights and that states have long been permitted to regulate the conditions under which individuals may enter private property.