Hawaii cannot ban guns on beaches, US judge rules

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-cannot-ban-guns-beaches-145831806.html

(Reuters) -A federal judge has blocked the state of Hawaii from enforcing
a recently enacted ban on firearms on its prized beaches and in other
areas including banks, bars and parks, citing last year's landmark U.S.
Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi in Honolulu on Tuesday concluded that
the prohibitions likely infringed on the rights of permit-carrying gun
owners to carry firearms in public under the U.S. Constitution's Second
Amendment.

Those restrictions were enacted after the conservative-majority Supreme
Court in June 2022 declared for the first time that the Second Amendment's
guarantee of a person's right to "keep and bear arms" protects an
individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense.

That decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen,
announced a new test for assessing firearms laws, saying restrictions must
be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm
regulation."

The ruling prompted Hawaiian lawmakers to pass a bill that Democratic
Governor Josh Green signed into law in June that sought to comply with the
decision while deterring gun violence by barring firearms in "sensitive
places."

The measure was challenged by three Hawaii residents and the gun rights
group Hawaii Firearms Coalition, who called the prohibitions
unconstitutional.

Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez's office argued the law was consistent
with historical gun regulations and served a state interest in protecting
public safety, including on crowded beaches where children and families
congregate.

But while Kobayashi acknowledged the important role beaches play in
Hawaii's economy, "the state does not provide any evidence that this
nation has a historical tradition of regulating or prohibiting the
carrying of firearms on beaches."

Kobayashi, an appointee of Democratic then-President Barack Obama, said
Hawaii's ban on guns in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol likewise
failed due to the "confounding" and "curious" way the Supreme Court
defined what constitutes a "historical tradition" of gun regulation.

Alan Beck, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, hailed the judge's temporary
restraining order, saying Kobayashi "faithfully applied Supreme Court
precedent and came to the correct result."

A spokesperson for Lopez did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Jonathan Oatis)


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