SAF SEEKS SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN HAWAII 18-20 GUN BAN CHALLENGE

News Release from SAF, Oct 2, 2025

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Oct. 2, 2025 — The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a motion for summary judgment in a federal lawsuit challenging Hawaii’s ban on the acquisition and possession of firearms and ammunition for adults 18-20 years old.

The lawsuit challenges Hawaii law that prohibits 18-20-year-olds from acquiring and possessing firearms and ammunition, completely extinguishing their Second Amendment rights. Joining SAF in Pinales v. Attorney General for the State of Hawaii are Aloha Strategics, JGB Arms and two private citizens.

“Put simply, Hawaii’s laws completely prevent adults under 21 from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “In passing and enforcing these laws, Hawaii lawmakers have thumbed their noses at the Constitution, the Supreme Court, and ultimately, at the very citizen residents from whom they draw their authority. Peaceable adult citizens have the full panoply of rights guaranteed them by the Constitution, whether they’re 20, 40 or 60 years of age. These laws must be struck down.”

As noted in SAF’s memo in support of its summary judgment: “…historically no state or colony completely banned the acquisition and possession of firearms by adults under 21. And in the modern era, Hawaii is the only state that completely bans the acquisition and possession of ammunition and firearms by adults under 21.”

“These adults have all the same fundamental rights as those 21 and older, to include those protected by the Second Amendment,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Imagine if lawmakers stripped the rights of free speech, or freedom from unreasonable search or seizure, or the rights of the accused from 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds. We would be outraged. So why would we accept the infringement of their right to keep and bear arms? The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and we will continue to fight those who treat it as such.”

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