Hawaii is following a vindictive playbook that has already been used in California, New York, and New Jersey to frustrate rights the Supreme Court's Bruen decision makes clear are constitutionally guaranteed. As revenge for the Supreme Court's decision, the State of Hawaii passed SB 1230 SD1, a sweeping new law designed to severely restrict the rights of lawful gun owners.
The Second Amendment Law Center will coordinate an amicus brief campaign and support legal challenges to the new law.
The new law broadly defines “sensitive places" where firearms are prohibited. This approach has been used in other states, including California, in the wake of the Bruen decision as a cynical and ham-handed way to limit firearm access without directly banning gun ownership. As a practical matter, there are so many places where a gun will be prohibited even with a carry license that you won't be able to drive across town without breaking the law. There are multiple legal challenges to those law already in court.
"A right that can't be exercised is not a right at all, let alone a fundamental right," remarked 2ALC President & Senior Legal Counsel Chuck Michel. "Calling every place ‘sensitive’ and prohibiting guns there doesn't wash with Heller, Bruen, or the Constitution."
In addition, the law makes it very difficult and expensive to get a permit to carry in public. It denies permits to anyone "found to be lacking the essential character or temperament necessary to be entrusted with a firearm." These absurdly subjective criteria will be used to deny lawful gun owners a permit because a biased government bureaucrat doesn't like their behavior or associations.
“The Supreme Court has already warned governments against conditioning exercise of the right to keep and bear arms on subjective factors. The subjective evaluation of a biased government agent violates the essence of the entire Bill of Rights, and especially the Second Amendment,” Michel noted.