SAF Challenges Hawaii’s “Vampire Rule” and Concealed Carry Laws at Supreme Court

SAF argues against using classist hunting laws to narrow the Second Amendment

News Release from SAF, November 24, 2025

Today, the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court in a case challenging Hawaii’s concealed carry laws under the Second Amendment. This is the second time in the last week that SAF has urged a court to invalidate a law under the Second Amendment.  

Fighting “Vampire Rules” on Private Property

Hawaii does not respect the right to carry firearms. Between 2000 and 2018, the state issued just four concealed carry licenses. Things changed in 2022, when the Supreme Court declared that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm outside the home. After that, Hawaii—along with New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and California—passed “default private property” or “vampire rules.” Under these rules, people exercising their right to carry a firearm need to get express permission from the open establishment before they can enter.  

Rejecting Feudal Classism in Gun Laws

To justify its default rule, Hawaii is relying on classist hunting “qualification” laws that were a result of European feudalism. The brief explains that “early British game laws … were originally made with a view of taking the arms out of the hands of the common people, or at least with a design of rendering them in-expert in the use of them.” The colonial governments attempted to import these wealth qualifications to the United States. Hawaii and the other states that have adopted the default rule argue that these qualification laws establish a tradition of banning firearms under the Second Amendment.  

Defending American Hunting Heritage

As the brief points out, however, “America’s early settlers promptly rejected their mother country’s legacy of conditioning the right to take game on wealth and birthright.” And after the Revolution, courts referred to these qualification laws as “productive of tyranny” and “contrary to the spirit of our institutions.”

“We filed the brief to make sure those classist hunting laws that were rejected openly by the courts for 150 years remain in the past,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for SAF. “Those laws were never part America’s hunting heritage. They should serve as cautionary tales, and no more.”

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SAF argues that Hawaii gun laws violate the Second Amendment

News Release from Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation, Nov 20, 2025

Today, Nov. 20, the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging two Hawaii laws that pose undue burdens on gun owners.

Hawaii makes it very difficult for a person to acquire a handgun legally. The law first requires a permit to purchase. To do that, an individual must undergo a background check and provide specific information about the firearm they are purchasing—manufacturer, model, action, caliber, serial number, etc. The law forbids any local law enforcement agency from issuing the permit until 14 days after the application was received but requires it to be issued within 40 days. The permit expires 30 days after it is issued, and if the transaction is not completed in that timeframe, the process starts all over again.

But that is not the end of it. The seller must sign the permit and return it, along with the gun’s identifying information, to their local law enforcement agency within 48 hours. The pain is still not over as the buyer must then bring the firearm to the police station for a physical inspection within five days of completing the sale.

“There is no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction between … handguns and … rifles.” — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh

The expiration date on the permit to purchase and the five-day in-person inspection requirement were challenged in federal court under the Second Amendment. The trial court struck them down in 2021. Hawaii appealed, and a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the laws were invalid in March of this year. Hawaii then sought en banc review, a process in which 11 judges on the Ninth Circuit will review the three-judge panel’s decision. The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation’s brief urges the en banc court to hold Hawaii’s regulations unlawful … again.

“The Supreme Court was very clear about the ratification of the Second Amendment,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. “Preserving the right to keep and bear arms, and every other right protected by the Constitution, takes certain policy choices off the table. Here, Hawaii has conceded in this case that its onerous laws were imposed to ‘control’ how people exercise their right to acquire a firearm. That does not cut it—just as the First Amendment does not allow the government to control how we speak or exercise our religion for the sake of controlling it.”

Firearms are part and parcel of our ability to hunt. And as Justice Kavanaugh said, “There is no meaningful or persuasive constitutional distinction between … handguns and … rifles.” So, if Hawaii’s draconian permitting and registration laws are allowed to stand, then every state can impose the same restrictions across the board, and it is that much more burdensome for sportsmen to do what they enjoy.

We expect the court to hold a hearing in late March.

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Animal extremists already bully sportsmen. We do not need to be bullied by gun-control extremists working to take away our firearms. The Sportsmen’s Alliance is fighting against those who are working to crater our heritage and traditions. Join us or donate to the Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund to help stand up against the relentless assault on our values and lifestyle by animal extremists and gun-control advocates. Present and future generations are depending on your willingness to fight to protect the future of hunting, fishing, and trapping.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance guarantees hunting, fishing and trapping for the American sportsman now and forever. We’re there when sportsmen need us most. We are the only organization specifically created to protect the individual hunter, angler and trapper – no matter the threat. We will never compromise when it comes to defending our way of life in the courts, in the legislatures, in the public square and at the ballot box. We make this promise to the American sportsman: we will never give up and never give in while proudly securing our future against those seeking to destroy our values, beliefs, and traditions. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.