Ninth Circuit finds lower court missed the mark in Hawaii firearms regulation case

An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court and upheld two of Hawaii's firearm licensing provisions, including a 30-day use-it-or-lose-it rule for pistol and revolver permits and a police station inspection requirement. The majority, led by Judge John Owens, found these shall-issue licensing rules presumptively constitutional under a carve-out identified in the Supreme Court's Bruen decision, so long as they aren't administered abusively.

Three judges dissented. Judge Ryan Nelson accused Hawaii of running a not-so-subtle end-run around the Second Amendment, while Judge Lawrence VanDyke proposed his own bright-line test that would strike down any firearm regulation not common to most other states. Owens, for his part, said he hopes the Supreme Court will settle which approach is correct.

The plaintiffs' attorney says he'll seek Supreme Court review, arguing the ruling contradicts both Bruen and a 2025 decision. Nine months of legal history, a 2021 injunction, and three competing judicial philosophies later, the underlying dispute is still just about a permit deadline and a police station visit.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.