Wolford v. Lopez · ¶67

In support of this argument, the State recounts its long history of antipathy to the private possession of firearms. It tells us that one of the very first written laws of the Kingdom of Hawaii, issued in 1833 by King Kamehameha III, prohibited the possession of all deadly weapons. Later laws adopted before and after Hawaii became part of the United States continued to heavily restrict the possession and carriage of firearms. See, e.g., Act of May 25, 1852, §1, 1852 Haw. Sess. Laws 19 (limiting the right to carry any deadly weapon in public); Haw. Rev. Laws, ch. 209, §3089 (1905), as amended by Act of Mar. 19, 1913, §1, 1913 Haw. Sess. Laws 25. And prior to Bruen, Hawaii permitted public carry only in “exceptional” cases “when an applicant show[ed] reason to fear injury to the applicant’s person or property.” Haw. Rev. Stat. §134–9(a) (2022). Then, in the wake of Bruen, Hawaii passed…

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