Ninth Circuit En Banc Decision Upholds Hawaii’s Draconian Handgun Permit Laws

Summary: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sat en banc and upheld Hawaii’s restrictive handgun permitting and registration requirements, rejecting arguments filed in a friend-of-the-court brief by the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation.

Official response and confirmed impact

The Sportsmen’s Alliance participated in this Second Amendment lawsuit because this battle is not just about handguns; it is about the future of all firearms.

Justice Kavanaugh explicitly noted that “There is no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction between … handguns and … rifles.”

So, if Hawaii’s draconian permitting and registration laws are allowed to stand, then every state can impose the same restrictions across the board, making it much more burdensome for sportsmen to do what they enjoy.

Hawaii makes it very difficult to acquire a handgun. Under Hawaii law, everyone must acquire a permit to purchase a handgun.

This process has the typical requirements that many permitting systems do, like undergoing a background check and providing details about the firearm being purchased.

Incident under investigation

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, upheld Hawaii’s draconian requirements to purchase a handgun and rejected arguments the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation made in a friend-of-the-court brief.