The U.S. Supreme Court appeared likely to strike down Hawaii’s restrictions on carrying guns into places such as stores and hotels during oral arguments Tuesday, in a case centered on how states may limit Second Amendment rights on certain types of private property.
The dispute concerns Hawaii’s law barring guns in places like malls and hotels unless the property owner specifically allows them. The Trump administration backed the challenge to the measure, which is sometimes referred to as a “vampire rule” because it hinges on permission.
Hawaii argued that the rule is aimed at ensuring private owners can decide whether they want firearms on their property. During questioning, conservative justices expressed skepticism of the state’s position, including by probing whether Hawaii could impose similar restrictions that would limit First Amendment speech rights on private property.
Justice Samuel Alito said, “You’re just relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status,” in a remark directed at that framing of the constitutional question.
The arguments also drew attention to how Hawaii’s concealed-carry landscape has changed since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision expanding Second Amendment rights generally giving people the right to have firearms in public. Attorney Neal Katyal said very few people had concealed-carry permits before the ruling, and that Hawaii has granted thousands since then.
AP reported that four other states have enacted similar “permission” laws, though presumptive restrictions on guns on private property have been blocked in New York. The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Hawaii case, AP said, would not change other state restrictions on guns in places such as parks, beaches and restaurants that serve alcohol.
The case reached the justices after it was challenged by a gun-rights group and three people from Maui. A judge initially blocked the measure, but an appeals court later allowed it to be enforced.
The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision by late June. In the meantime, the justices are also hearing another gun case this term about whether people who regularly use marijuana and other drugs can legally own guns.
AP noted that in recent years the court struck down a federal ban on gun accessories called bump stocks from Trump’s first term, while upholding regulations on ghost guns imposed during then-President Joe Biden’s term and upholding a federal gun law intended to protect domestic violence victims.