9th Circuit Panel Hears Challenge To Carry Law

A challenge to Hawaii’s ban on the open carrying of a firearm without a license received another day in court on Thursday, as attorneys for the state and a resident challenging the law squared off in front of an en banc panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case of Young vs. Hawaii is an important case when it comes to the right-to-carry, and a three judge panel on the court of appeals has already ruled that the law violates the constitutional rights of residents by requiring them to demonstrate a “justifiable need” to carry beyond the right of self-defense.

The state of Hawaii decided to appeal that decision to a broader panel of Ninth Circuit judges rather than take the case directly to the Supreme Court, and attorney Neal Katyal, a former acting Solicitor General in the Obama administration, represented the state in the oral arguments held on Thursday. Katyal claimed that Hawaii’s restrictive licensing of open carry doesn’t amount to an outright ban on carrying, even though the average resident is precluded from the practice.

Arguing before an 11-judge en banc panel Thursday, Katyal explained that Hawaii state law and the County of Hawaii’s regulations do not limit open-carry permits to security guards. He cited the Hawaii Attorney General’s 2018 guidance stating that an applicant can obtain an open-carry permit by demonstrating “a need to carry a firearm for protection that substantially exceeds the need possessed by ordinary law-abiding citizens.”