On October 3, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court thrust itself back into the center of America’s gun rights debate, announcing it would review Hawaii’s contentious 2023 law that sharply limits where firearms can be carried. The case, which will be argued and decided in the Court’s current term ending June 2026, could have profound implications not just for Hawaii, but for states across the country grappling with the balance between the Second Amendment and public safety.
The Hawaii law at issue bans guns on private property—including businesses like stores, hotels, clubs, bars, and restaurants—unless the owner has specifically given permission, either verbally or with a posted sign. It also prohibits firearms in so-called “sensitive places” such as beaches and parks. According to NPR, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law as constitutional, but a similar statute in New York was paused by the Second Circuit, highlighting just how unsettled the national landscape has become.
The case isn’t just about Hawaii’s beaches and bars. It’s about a default rule that, as Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court filings, “functions as a near-complete ban on public carry.” Because most property owners neither post signs allowing nor forbidding guns, Sauer argued, “a person carrying a handgun for self-defense commits a crime by entering a mall, a gas station, a convenience store, a supermarket, a restaurant, a coffee shop, or even a parking lot.” The Trump administration, which urged the Supreme Court to take the case, echoed these concerns, arguing the law violates the Court’s landmark 2022 ruling that found the Second Amendment protects the right to carry firearms in public.
That 2022 decision, as reported by Fox News, struck down New York’s century-old concealed carry law, declaring, “the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, emphasized that “ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a similar right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense.” This marked a major shift, requiring modern gun regulations to fit within the nation’s historical traditions.
Hawaii, for its part, insists it has already loosened its concealed-carry permit regulations to align with the Supreme Court’s 2022 directive. State attorneys say the new law strikes “a reasonable balance between gun rights and public safety,” according to the Associated Press. They argue there’s no constitutional right to carry firearms on someone else’s property without the owner’s consent. In their opposition to the plaintiffs’ petition, Hawaii stated, “there is no right to engage in speech or carry firearms on someone else’s property without her consent.”
The law’s challengers—a gun rights group and three residents from Maui—see things differently. They argue that the law, by criminalizing gun possession in most public places unless explicitly allowed by property owners, makes it “impossible as a practical matter to carry a firearm for lawful self-defense in Hawaii.” Their petition to the Supreme Court highlights that the Ninth Circuit’s ruling “effectively nullified the Second Amendment rights of millions of Hawaiians.” Judge Lawrence VanDyke, in his dissent, agreed, saying the law “effectively nullified the Second Amendment rights of millions of Hawaiians.”
Attorney Alan Alexander Beck, representing the plaintiffs, explained to the Associated Press, “Historically, businesses have a right to put up a sign that says guns are not allowed and we want to go back to that historical standard.” Beck and other gun rights advocates argue that Hawaii’s approach flips the historical presumption, making carrying a firearm the exception rather than the rule on private property open to the public.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case comes after a complicated legal journey. A federal judge initially blocked Hawaii’s law after it was challenged by the Hawaii Firearms Coalition and three gun owners. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals largely reversed that decision in September 2024, allowing the law’s enforcement. The Supreme Court’s review will focus on the private property aspect, declining to address for now the restrictions on beaches, parks, and restaurants serving alcohol.
Hawaii’s approach isn’t unique. According to the Associated Press, four other states have laws banning guns in areas often referred to as sensitive locations. However, similar presumptive restrictions for guns on private property have faced legal headwinds elsewhere, notably in New York. The Supreme Court previously declined to fully strike down New York’s law, adding another layer of complexity to the national patchwork of regulations.
Gun safety advocates, like the group Everytown, have weighed in, urging the Supreme Court to uphold Hawaii’s measure. Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation for Everytown, told the Associated Press, “The Ninth Circuit was absolutely right to say it’s constitutional to prohibit guns on private property unless the owner says they want guns there.”
Historical precedent will be front and center when arguments begin. Hawaii has cited an 1771 New Jersey law and an 1865 Louisiana law requiring gun owners to obtain consent before bringing firearms onto private property. As NPR reports, the law’s challengers counter that these are historical outliers, not the mainstream tradition the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling demands. They argue that Hawaii’s law, by restricting the ability to carry guns in everyday public settings, limits Hawaiians’ ability to participate fully in social life.
The Supreme Court’s recent record on gun cases is mixed, reflecting the nation’s deep divisions. While the Court expanded gun rights in 2022, it has since both struck down a federal ban on bump stocks from Trump’s first term and upheld a Biden-era ban on ghost guns. In 2024, the justices also upheld a federal law prohibiting people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms—a decision that disappointed some gun rights groups but was seen as a victory for public safety advocates.
For Hawaii, the stakes are high. Governor Josh Green signed the restrictions into law in June 2023, responding to the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling and a rising tide of gun violence concerns. The outcome of this case could set a precedent for how far states can go in regulating guns on private property and in public spaces. As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments, eyes across the nation—on both sides of the gun debate—are watching closely, knowing the decision could reshape the boundaries of the Second Amendment for years to come.
With the justices set to weigh historical tradition, modern safety concerns, and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution, the coming months promise a legal and political drama with consequences far beyond Hawaii’s shores.
