Supreme Court Strikes Down Hawaii's Concealed Carry Law

The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision on June 27, 2026, that Hawaii's requirement for licensed gun owners to obtain permission before carrying firearms onto private property open to the public is unconstitutional. The case, Wolford v. Lopez, challenged the state's concealed-carry restriction. Attorney Kevin O'Grady, who represented the plaintiffs, criticized Hawaii's reliance on a Reconstruction-era Black Code to justify the law, calling it disgraceful. Justice Samuel Alito, in the majority opinion, dismissed the historical law as a 'tainted artifact' aimed at disarming newly freed Black Americans. In dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued the Court should have addressed whether the Louisiana law violated the Second Amendment or was enforced in a racially discriminatory manner. Critics of Jackson's dissent pointed out that the Fourteenth Amendment was enacted in response to such laws. The ruling allows businesses to prohibit firearms but prevents Hawaii from treating all businesses as off-limits to licensed gun owners unless explicitly stated otherwise.