Young v. Hawaii
06.05.20
Defending Hawai‘i’s “good cause” requirement for obtaining a public-carry permit.
Court: Ninth Circuit
Issue at Stake: Public carry
Summary: Everytown filed this amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, urging the federal appeals court to uphold the district court’s decision dismissing a challenge to Hawai‘i’s system for regulating the carrying of firearms in public. Everytown’s brief refutes the primary historical arguments that a divided Ninth Circuit panel had relied on in reversing the district court’s dismissal. It explains that Hawai‘i’s requirement that an applicant have “good cause” to obtain a permit to carry a firearm in public is consistent with centuries of Anglo-American tradition and thus constitutional under the Second Amendment.
Everytown Law had previously filed an amicus brief urging the Ninth Circuit to reconsider the panel decision en banc. This brief argues that the Ninth Circuit should review Young v. Hawaii en banc in order to correct errors in the historical analysis made in the prior decision.
Decision: On March 24, 2021, an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found Hawai‘i’s law did not violate the Second Amendment. Judge Jay Bybee, a President George W. Bush appointee, wrote the court’s 7-4 decision, which included historical arguments that Everytown Law presented in its amicus brief.