CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA @ STARADVERTISER.COM Guns were sold at the Great Guns Gun Show at the Blaisdell Center on March 19, 2023.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA @ STARADVERTISER.COM Guns were sold at the Great Guns Gun Show at the Blaisdell Center on March 19, 2023.
Attorney General Anne Lopez praised the ruling by a panel of the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals, which she said once again limits where people can carry firearms in Hawaii.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the ability of states to restrict the carrying of firearms in its ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, now known as the Bruen decision.
The court ruled that the Second Amendment gives people the right to carry handguns in public to protect themselves.
In response, in 2023, Governor Josh Green signed the latest version of Senate Bill 1230 as Act 52, which regulates when and where people can carry firearms.
They are not allowed to carry weapons on private property owned by someone else, on beaches, in parks, at restaurants and bars that serve alcohol, and in adjacent parking lots.
Act 52 also requires “the possession and display of a permit to carry. Prohibits leaving an unsecured firearm unattended in a vehicle. Prohibits consuming or being under the influence of alcohol, an intoxicating beverage, or a controlled substance while carrying a firearm.”
In 2023, Mayor Rick Blangiardi also signed Bill 57, which bans firearms in 13 “sensitive places” across Oahu, including schools, child care centers, popular spots like the Waikiki Aquarium, polling places and hospitals.
The 9th Circuit’s decision announced Friday also applies to California’s efforts following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling.
The panel also unanimously ruled that California can also impose bans in casinos, libraries, zoos, stadiums, museums and their parking lots.
The 9th Circuit’s ruling, Lopez said, restores “critical laws intended to protect the public from gun violence.”
The case was heard as “Jason Wolford v. Anne E. Lopez.”
Employees at several gun stores in Honolulu either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
Several gun rights advocates who testified to Honolulu police in January about where and when guns should be allowed could not be reached for comment Friday.
“Act 52 ensures that those who carry firearms in public do so lawfully and safely, to protect Hawaii’s residents to the greatest extent possible in the post-Bruen era,” Lopez said in a statement after the 9th Circuit’s ruling. “Among other things, Act 52 established a default rule that firearms are prohibited on a person’s private property unless expressly authorized by the owner of the private property, and established specific ‘sensitive places’ where firearms generally may not be carried.”
But a U.S. district judge in 2023 issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of Act 52.
The 9th Circuit’s ruling Friday struck down a ban on gun possession in parking lots shared by government and non-government buildings.
Hawaii Attorney General Kaliko ‘onalani D. Fernandes said in a statement: “The State of Hawaii takes public safety seriously. This is an important decision that recognizes that the state’s public safety measures are consistent with our nation’s historic tradition.”
Special Deputy Attorney General Neal Katyal of the law firm Hogan Lovells previously served as the United States Attorney General.
In a statement, Katyal said: “We are very pleased that the appeals court has rejected the trial court’s overly broad limitation on Hawaii’s ability to keep our people safe. Hawaii’s gun safety laws are based on common sense and we will fight vigorously to protect them.”
State Rep. Darius Kila (D, Nanakuli-Maili) represents a district that is seeing an overall increase in gun violence in West Oahu.
On Thursday morning at around 1:50 a.m., a 41-year-old man was in critical condition after being shot multiple times.
Honolulu police continued their search Friday for the attacker, who is wanted for attempted second-degree murder.
The Maili shooting followed the August 31 killing of three members of the Keamo family on their land at the mauka end of Waianae Valley Road.
They were killed by their angry neighbor after family members complained about people running up and down Waianae Valley Road to attend an illegal gathering at an unlicensed Quonset hut owned by Hiram James Silva Sr., 59.
Silva shot dead a total of five people and rammed a muzzleloader filled with barrels of fuel into the Keamo family’s home.
He was shot dead by Rishard Kanaka Keamo-Carnate, 42.
Following the 9th Circuit’s ruling on Friday, Kila said the places where guns are prohibited in Act 52 “must be safe places.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen gives gun owners “legal options for law-abiding citizens to follow the Second Amendment,” Kila said. “We know that it’s people who don’t have a CCW permit who are committing crimes. Now, more than ever, we need to rethink the way people commit gun crimes.”———Reuters contributed to this report.
