Young v. Hawaii

Plaintiff filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that defendants violated his Second Amendment right to carry a loaded firearm in public for self defense by denying his application for a firearms license. The Ninth Circuit held that, while the concealed carry of firearms categorically fell outside Second Amendment protection, the Second Amendment encompassed a right to carry a firearm openly in public for self defense. Therefore, H.R.S. 134-restricted plaintiff in exercising such right and thus burdened conduct protected by the Second Amendment. The panel held that Hawaii's limitation on the open carry of firearms to those engaged in the protection of life and property violated the core of the Second Amendment and was void under any level of scrutiny. The panel explained that restricting open carry to those whose job entail protecting life or property necessarily restricts open carry to a small and insulated subset of law-abiding citizens, and the typical, law-abiding citizen in the state was entirely foreclosed from exercising the core Second Amendment right to bear arms for self defense. View "Young v. Hawaii" on Justia Law