Hawaii’s Supreme Court ignored a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding the Second Amendment, claiming Wednesday that the state does not guarantee a constitutional right to carry firearms in public.
On Wednesday, Hawaii’s Supreme Court reversed a circuit court judge’s decision to dismiss charges against Christopher Wilson, who was charged with violating three state gun laws, according to The Epoch Times. Wilson was charged with violating laws that restrict the possession of firearms and ammunition to a gun owner’s private property.
In August of 222, a circuit court judge granted the request of Wilson’s legal team to have the charges dismissed over claims that the charges violated Wilson’s right to bear arms, which is a freedom guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment and Article 1, Section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution.
While the Supreme Court of Hawaii acknowledged that Article 1, Section 17 “mirrors” the Second Amendment, the court wrote, “We read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court. We hold that in Hawaii there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public.”
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“Hawaii’s historical tradition of firearm regulation rule out an individual right to keep and bear arms under the Hawaii Constitution … The spirit of Aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities,” Hawaii’s Supreme Court added. “The history of the Hawaiian Islands does not include a society where armed people move about the community to possibly combat the deadly aims of others.”
According to The Reload, the state’s ruling against Wilson represents a complete rejection of the U.S. Supreme Court’s previous Second Amendment cases. The case specifically goes against the Supreme Court’s rulings in both”District of Columbia v. Heller” in 2008 and “New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen” in 2022. The Reload noted that the state’s rejection of the Supreme Court’s previous rulings could result in the Supreme Court overruling the state court.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Kostas Moros, an attorney with a firm representing the California Rifle & Pistol Association, slammed the court’s decision and urged Wilson to file a cert petition.
“I hope the poor guy dealing with all this nonsense files a cert petition,” he tweeted. “What a preposterous ruling by a bench of antigun activists.”
