A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday would allow firearm sales to 18- to 20-year-olds, claiming Hawaii is the only state prohibiting the age group from owning guns and ammunition.
According to the lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, many of its Hawaii members are between the ages of 18 and 20 — including Elijah Pinales, 19, and Juda Roache, who turns 18 on Dec. 15 — and have been “adversely and directly harmed and injured” by enforcement of the “statutory prohibition on the lawful sale of firearms and ammunition.”
The 47-page civil action is also filed on behalf of Danger Close Tactical of Honolulu and JGB Arms LLC of Kauai, two firearm retailers that joined the federal lawsuit because they want to sell guns and ammunition to 18- to 20-year-old customers.
The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Hawaii’s laws prohibiting the “acquisition, purchase, sale, ownership, and possession of firearms and ammunition by adult(s) under 21.”
Hawaii’s current law makes it “impossible” for people between 18 and 20 to exercise their right to “keep arms,” as guaranteed by the Second Amendment’s text and as “recognized and reaffirmed” by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle &Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, according to the civil complaint.
Hawaii’s ban on young adults age 18-20 owning guns started in 1994 and expanded this year to prevent them from owning ammunition, according to the federal civil complaint.
“The Department of the Attorney General has not been served with the complaint. The department generally does not comment on pending litigation,” Toni Schwartz, public information officer for state Attorney General Anne E. Lopez, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Due to that U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Bruen case, police chiefs in Hawaii lost discretion to deny a permit to carry a gun to law-abiding citizens who satisfy basic requirements put in place by each county.
It also invalidated a 170-year-old law that required firearm permit applicants to prove a special need to carry a concealed gun on their person, according to the Honolulu City Council.
If not for Hawaii’s prohibition, Roache would “acquire, purchase, own and possess a firearm and ammunition” and would also “accept, acquire and own a firearm and ammunition given to him by his mother.”
The Second Amendment Foundation, a Bellevue, Wash.-based nonprofit, said it is challenging Hawaii’s “restrictive gun control laws,” which it alleges “discriminate against young adults, prohibiting them from acquiring, purchasing and possessing firearms and ammunition, therefore violating their Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights,” according to a statement.
The organization, Pinales, Roache and the two businesses are represented by attorneys Kevin G. O’Grady in Honolulu and Alan A. Beck of San Diego.
“Hawaii’s ban on the purchase and possession of firearms by adults in the 18- to 20-year age group makes it impossible for these citizens to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” noted Second Amendment Foundation Executive Director Adam Kraut, in a news release. “Their rights have been assured by recent Supreme Court rulings, not to mention this nation’s history and tradition, and the Hawaii statutes clearly conflict with those decisions and the relevant history.”
The organization claims more than 720,000 members nationwide, including in Hawaii.
“Hawaii has essentially decided the Second Amendment doesn’t apply in that state, and they can’t be allowed to get away with it,” added Second Amendment Foundation founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb in a news release. “Under the Fourteenth Amendment, no state shall make or enforce any law which abridges the rights guaranteed to citizens by the U.S. constitution, and that includes young adults. These prohibitions simply cannot be allowed to stand.”
