In the filing, which Breitbart News possesses, the 27 states–represented by 26 Republican attorneys general and the Arizona legislature–pointed to SCOTUS’s Bruen (2022) ruling, noting that it “reminded lower courts that the right to keep and bear arms ‘is not a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.’”
Hawaii’s legislature responded to that ruling by “[creating] a default rule against public carry on private property held open to the public. Rather than presuming that public carry was permissible unless expressly forbidden, public carry is now presumptively forbidden in Hawaii unless expressly permitted.”
Plaintiffs Jason Wolford, Alison Wolford, Atom Kasprzycki, and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition filed suit against the ban, and in 2023 a district court judge blocked enforcement of the ban. However, in 2024, the ban was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
In early October, SCOTUS agreed to hear Wolford v. Lopez, and now the 26 attorneys general and the Arizona legislature are urging the high court to strike down the ban.
Montana AG Knudsen told Breitbart News, “The state of Hawaii is blatantly infringing on their citizens’ Second Amendment rights. SCOTUS has made it clear that the right to keep and bear arms does not end at state lines and I’m hopeful they will do so again. Hawaii’s law flips the default rule on its head, requiring explicit permission by a business to carry a legally owned firearm. Montanans and Hawaiians alike are granted the right to carry unless otherwise posted. As attorney general, I will continue to defend our Constitutional rights and challenge those trying to take them.”
The 25 AGs aligned with Knudsen are Republicans Paul R. Labrador (Idaho), Steve Marshall (Alabama), Tim Griffin (Arkansas), Christopher M. Carr (Georgia), Brenna Bird (Iowa), Russell Coleman (Kentucky), Lynn Fitch (Mississippi), Michael T. Hilgers (Nebraska), Drew H. Wrigley (North Dakota), Stephen J. Cox (Alaska), James Uthmeier (Florida), Theodore E. Rokita (Indiana), Kris Kobach (Kansas), Liz Murill (Louisiana), Catherine L. Hanaway (Missouri), John M. Formella (New Hampshire), Dave Yost (Ohio), Gentner F. Drummond (Oklahoma), Marty J. Jackley (South Dakota), Ken Paxton (Texas), John B. McCuskey (West Virginia), Alan Wilson (South Carolina), Jonathan Skrmetti (Tennessee), Derek Brown (Utah), and Keith G. Kautz (Wyoming).
Arizona’s legislative support of the amicus brief is led by Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R) and Arizona Senate President Warren Peterson (R).
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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