United States Supreme Court Issues Limited Grant of Certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez; Everytown Law Urges High Court to Protect Hawai‘i’s Common Sense Law Keeping Guns Out of Private Property Without Owners’ Consent

NEW YORK – The United States Supreme Court today granted certiorari on one issue in Wolford v. Lopez, which involves a reckless gun-lobby challenge to Hawai‘i’s common sense law that prohibits carrying firearms on others’ private property open to the public without permission. 

“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,” said Janet Carter, Managing Director of Second Amendment Litigation, at Everytown Law. “This law respects people’s right to be safe on their own property, and we urge the Supreme Court to uphold it.” 

Hawai‘i passed this law in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. Gun rights litigants challenged the law, and with the case still at a preliminary stage, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in September 2024 upholding it. The court’s opinion, authored by Judge Susan Graber, can be found here. Everytown Law filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit explaining that Hawai‘i’s restrictions are constitutional under the approach to Second Amendment cases set out in Bruen.