2022 marks a year of fundamental change in Hawaii’s gun laws. Hawaii is currently one of the safest states in the nation, with one of the lowest rates of gun deaths per capita. All of that could be about to change. The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision will require Hawaii to update its concealed carry laws.
Pre-Bruen, obtaining a concealedcarry license in our state was rare. In contrast, under the new rules, at least 600 applications are pending in Honolulu County alone. The next question facing our community is where these publicly carried firearms will be allowed, an issue under current consideration at the Honolulu City Council. (The Council will hold a special meeting on this at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Honolulu Hale.)
Determining where guns will be allowed is a safety issue that affects everyone. For example, in Texas, where school districts have wide latitude to give permission to staff to carry firearms on campus, guns have been left unattended by school staff in places such as bathrooms and the school bus. In Missouri, which has systematically dismantled its firearm purchase and public carry laws, there have been shootings in store parking lots, workplaces and local government meetings.
These are not isolated incidents. The national gun death rate is over three times higher than Hawaii’s, and in states such as Missouri and Texas, the gun death rate is even higher. Designation of “sensitive areas” where guns are restricted is an important approach for preventing Hawaii gun death rates from reaching the levels found in other states.
The designation of sensitive areas has a long history. In the 1800s, many states had location restrictions on places where firearms were not allowed, including schools, places of worship, and polling places. Today, even states with widespread concealed carry restrict guns in places designated as sensitive, including courtrooms, daycares, and athletic events.
Notably, in the recent Supreme Court Bruen decision, the concurring opinion by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. specifically states that the Second Amendment allows for laws restricting firearms in sensitive places.
In addition to supporting the designation of sensitive areas, it is also important to consider the impacts of allowing guns into private businesses and charitable organizations. It is important that the government not force these burdens onto private businesses by default, especially given Hawaii’s long-standing history of restrictions on public carry of firearms.
Instead, prohibiting public carry of firearms at these locations unless express consent is given, as provided in proposed Honolulu City Council Bill 57 (22), allows private businesses and charitable organizations the opportunity to make a careful assessment of their own situations and decide for themselves whether to allow firearms on the property.
To be sure, there will be those who argue that any restriction on where guns can be carried is an infringement on their Second Amendment rights, but as the Supreme Court said in its Bruen decision, the Second Amendment is “neither a regulatory straightjacket nor a regulatory blank check.”
Regardless of where one stands on gun access, we in Hawaii should also have a focus on how to keep our community safe from gun deaths. Hawaii’s gun laws gave us some of the lowest rates of gun death in the country. Now that more people will be eligible to carry a concealed gun outside their homes, let’s enact commonsense protections for sensitive areas.
Elna Nagasako is a physician trained in public health and health policy; Erica Yamauchi, a keiki advocate and educator with expertise in gun safety advocacy and health policy, is co-lead of the Hawaii Chapter of Moms Demand Action.
