No Mahalo: Hawaii Supreme Court kooks snake the U.S. Supreme Court's legal wave declaring the Second Amendment is just for a bunch of Barneys. But TTAG readers know Magnum would have none of that.

Straight from the department of “you can’t make this sh** up,” the Hawaii Supreme Court appears to now be simply making their laws up out of some Maui Wowi-induced vibe after they head-scratchingly declared that the “Spirit of Aloha” trumps what they see as a Second Amendment that doesn’t apply to their island state. Christopher Wilson, the defendant in this legal dramedy, found himself on the wrong side of a court that apparently consults its cultural roots more eagerly than its constitutional texts.

Wilson, who was presumably just enjoying a scenic stroll through the West Maui Mountains with a 10mm handgun in his possession was arrested on December 7, 2017. His crime? Carrying a gun without a permit (and apparently ammo too, which was a second charge), an apparently shocking act in a state where the only acceptable forms of defense are presumably shaka signs and good vibes.

Wilson’s legal saga began when his lawyers moved to dismiss the charges arguing they violated his Second Amendment rights when viewed in the context of the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. The lower court granted the motion on that basis, but the state appealed the ruling citing Wilson didn’t apply for a carry permit as the state requires.

Citing the island’s history as an independent kingdom and the radical notion that muskets from 1791 weren’t designed for modern mass shootings, the state Supreme Court performed a legal hula dance around the Second Amendment. They concluded, with a straight face, that in Hawaii, there’s no constitutional right to carry firearms in public. This interpretation is as imaginative as it is befuddling, suggesting that perhaps the court consulted a crystal ball rather than legal precedent.

In its judgment, the court essentially argued that the Second Amendment’s references to a “well-regulated militia” and the right to “bear arms” were quaint relics of a bygone era, best left to history books and passionate reenactors. The justices seemed to suggest that modern public safety laws should not be constrained by the fashions, technology or constitutional understandings of the 18th century. Because, clearly, the Founding Fathers couldn’t possibly have foreseen the future complexities of a state where surfing is practically a divine right.

Critics, like attorney Kostos Moros who works with the California Rifle & Pistol Association, were quick to skewer the ruling, accusing the court of rehashing old, debunked arguments about collective rights. Meanwhile, Wilson’s attorney, Benjamin Lowenthal, was left scratching his head, pondering the existential question of what, exactly, the court had been smoking.

The Hawaii Supreme Court didn’t stop there. They doubled down on their creative jurisprudence by essentially saying, “Thanks, U.S. Supreme Court, but we prefer our own brand of constitutional interpretation.” By arguing that the islands’ unique cultural and historical context somehow negates the need to align with the broader constitutional protections recognized by the nation, the court has boldly gone where no court has gone before. And in doing so, they’ve penned a ruling that reads more like a rejected script for “Hawaii Five-O” than a sober legal decision.

“As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge allegiance to the founding era’s culture, realities, laws, and understanding of the Constitution,” the court said.

To add insult to injury, the court referenced “The Wire,” a TV show known more for its gritty portrayal of drug-infested streets than its nuanced analysis of constitutional law, to justify its stance. The ruling actually quoted a line in The Wire with, “The thing about the old days, they the old days.”

This move alone should have legal scholars and TV critics alike wondering whether the court’s next legal citation might come from “Game of Thrones” or perhaps “The Mandalorian.”

As ludicrous as it is and offensive to any true rule of law in the nation, the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision is a masterclass in judicial creativity, blending equal parts legal reasoning and cultural homage with a dash of audacious reinterpretation of fundamental rights designed to suit the state’s desired needs. It’s a reminder that in Hawaii, the spirit of aloha (whatever that is) and a good television drama can apparently shape the law in ways the Founding Fathers could never have imagined.

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89 COMMENTS

  1. If Trump wins this November, his DOJ needs to start metaphorically smacking these people upside the head.

    • Agreed, we should revoke their dubious statehood and then just maintain the bases there like we do in every other crap hole. Then offer that star on the flag to the next best runner up. Seriously, their statehood was never ratified, just pushed through. If Pluto’s status as a planet can be rolled back, surely we can make the Virgin Islands a state and kick these dipshits to the curb.

      • I personally think the short list is California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Massachusetts. With their illegal gun bans, phony illegal drug legalization, and phony illegal “sanctuary state” laws, they’re all in a state of rebellion and have been for generations now. A President who had some stones would send the Army to arrest every one of those governors and lieutenant governors, all the big-city mayors in those states and every member of every city council, the state legislatures, and the state attorneys general, and try them for insurrection, sedition, and treason. Send all their Congressmen back home. Revoke their statehood and appoint military governors with a charter to root out corruption and fix the broken local systems, which may take a century.

        Hawaii is tiny and not the most brazen. Hawaii is an afterthought.

      • They likely meant Konstadinos “Kostas” Moros of CA. I can’t speak a word of Greek so I don’t know what the plural of kostas is. And I’m pretty sure you meant “pedant”.

  5. Weeelll, you really have to read–and parse–the decision. First it held that the 2A right in Hawai’i’s constitution is subject to interpretation under Hawai’i law and traditions, and in that they are correct. From there it goes on to conclude, with appropriately cited authority, that Bruen did NOT find that requiring a permit was unconstitutional–in fact it held that as long as the requirements for a license were objective, requiring a permit was acceptable. Therefore, a permitting requirement was NOT unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. This guy brought his gun from Florida some time in the past, had never registered it as required by state law, and had never applied for a carry permit.

    Other than these key holdings, everything else is dicta and a direct snub at the Supreme Court, particularly as it contended that it was a violation of federalism to impose the 2A on Hawai’i in McDonald.

    • “Other than these key holdings, everything else is dicta and a direct snub at the Supreme Court, particularly as it contended that it was a violation of federalism to impose the 2A on Hawai’i in McDonald.”

      Mark, in your opinion, could this be a good candidate case to drop in Thomas’ in-basket?

      • Not particularly. Yes, the opinion disses the Heller and Bruen decisions, but it is still fundamentally predicated on Hawai’s state law prohibiting carry without a permit/license. I don’t believe that there are votes for so-called Constitutional Carry, i.e. permitless carry outside the home.

    • People always talk about CA and NY, but HI has always been the worst about approving carry permits. They basically didn’t approve anyone. I would like to know if that has changed at all since Bruen.

      • It has changed as a result of Young v. Hawai’i, which was GVR’d after Bruen and resulted in Mr. Young finally getting a permit. Hawai’i can no longer deny carry permits to “mere” citizens after Bruen, ending a 20 year plus drought of the issuance of carry permits to anyone other than police and security guards. A challenge has been filed to its arcane and convoluted firearms permitting process, but I haven’t seen any reports on the progress of that action.

  7. Hawaii to me is just a mob-run foriegn country that hates everything about the “mainland ”
    except the cash that the visitors leave there. I refuse to recognize it as part of my country, and encourage all to boycott any form of enrichening them. I know that I would never return there, after leaving three days early from a
    nieces ” dream destination wedding” a few years back.

  11. “…an apparently shocking act in a state where the only acceptable forms of defense are presumably shaka signs and good vibes.”

    In a state where the military and international corporations call the shots (no pun intended) this unfortunate incident is nothing new under the Hawaiian sun. Hawaii’s cost of living is no accident. Unless you have a six figure income you will probably end up homeless – of which there are many. Walk on any street in Honolulu and you can smell the urine and bear witness to multitudes of tents. Self-defense is seen as white supremacy. Ironic considering white leadership is commonplace (in Hawaii). Sony Corp, Toyota, Honda, JTB, all Japan based corporations have bought off the vast majority of politicians. I dare you to find a Republican in the state legislature. In short, Hawaii is not a state. At least in the strictest sense of the word. It is an experiment in global politics.

    • You would think things would be not so expensive in Hawaii as cargo ships should just be able to drop off cargo as they Cross the Pacific.

      WRONG!

      Only US flagged ships with US crews can deliver to Hawaii from the continental US. No wonder basic staples are 3-5x the mainland price.

      • I’ve only been in Hi once as a refueling stop in the middle of the night. Many of the passengers ran off to find a bar and found ten dollars for a 7 oz pony of beer. That was in 1968, I haven’t been back since I didn’t leave anything behind.

        • Probably. If not the Russians. But then what we are actually seeing is self destructive acts of electrical fires and natural forces such as Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Where as those kinds of things would likely not stop the bad guys, it is becoming a pretty dangerous place to be in general.

  13. The state where the only person that could prove Obamas Birth Certificate was fraudulent died at sea in a plane crash.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/usnews/health-director-who-approved-obama-birth-certificate-dies-plane-crash-2d11732106

    Its a state with strong Communist connections going back to the 50’s

    Its still clear Communist Ideology is strong in the states legal system

    https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/5ec5752b-9dcc-41f4-9ef2-14a48dfb4393/content

  15. People get the government and society…They allow. Especially when they choose comfortable Subjugation over dangerous unsure Freedom.

  17. I never understood why Hawaii was made a state. It isn’t America and they constantly demonstrate that fact with stuff like this.

    • It’s the same method of how states were admitted to the Union in the 1860’s: one free state per one slave state. Alaska is the free state; Hawaii is the slave state.

      • Please explain how/why the topic of slavery – or any modern variation thereof – was relevant in 1959, in addition to the normal process of employing Article IV Sec 3 of the USC.

        • I was just riffing off of a previous comment — Alaska was strong (R), so admitting that state had to be offset with admission of a strong (D). I can’t help it that the analogy to “free and slave” states is relevant to (R) and (D) states today.

  18. Looks like Hawaii just gave Bruen the finger and got away with it. Just another day in the corrupt world of the U.S. Courts that pay no more attention to prior judicial judgements than they do to a squished pineapple in the middle of the road.

    There is an old adage “The U.S. Constitution does not mean what is says it means rather it means what the corrupt Courts say it means depending on which side of the political spectrum they are on”.

    • Did you read Mark N.’s post above?

      “Bruen did NOT find that requiring a permit was unconstitutional–in fact it held that as long as the requirements for a license were objective, requiring a permit was acceptable. Therefore, a permitting requirement was NOT unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.”

      Looks like Hawaii confirmed Bruen, not “gave [it] the finger.”

      “the corrupt world of the U.S. Courts”

      Considering last night’s decision on Biden’s unlawful handling of classified docs, you’re correct on this point.

      • Except…

        Here in CA, open carry is prohibited across nearly all the state. The only other option is CCW, which requires hefty fees, intrusive BGCs and applications, registration of your property with the State, and lengthy wait times. All with no guarantee. If you want to carry, the only legal way is to beg for permission and pay out the wazoo.

        And CADOJ will not allow issuance of CCWs to any adults under 21. So no 18-20 year old American citizens residing in the State of CA are allowed to exercise their 2A-enumerated right at all.

        I’m surprised this State’s entire scheme hasn’t been knocked down yet, since it’s clearly unconstitutional. I wonder why Michel & Assoc. doesn’t have a case in the queue.

    • Every once in a while Dacian gets it right. In this case he correctly notes how our judicial system is rife with corruption–as all human institutions are.

      Of course he misses the mark entirely when he tells us that we should put our full faith and credit in government to take care of us which negates any reason for us to own firearms.

      To summarize Dacian tells us how human institutions such as government are:
      — rife with corruption
      — wonderful and we can trust them

  19. You guys voted for slavery. They like slavery in california. They like slavery in colorado. In Oregon half the state is against slavery. And that half wants to break away.

    It’s amazing to see the dark skinned people of Hawaii joyfully looking forward to their enslavement. To the white s0ci@ list pr0 gres sive establishment.

  22. I just checked, and it turns out the Republic of Napresto has extremely lenient gun laws. So I guess, like Hawaii, I’ll just do what I feel like. Thanks, Hawaiian judges – you’re a class act!

  23. I wouldn’t have thought a lower court would explicitly reject SCOTUS precedent in the 2nd sentence of their ruling. I don’t see how SCOTUS could let this ruling stand. The whole thing is basically a rejection of the entire judicial system in America!

  24. Guess my OP hurt some fefes in the staff.

    The downhill slide is rapidly turning into a fall off a cliff.

    • Was your post removed? I noticed that a couple of posts have been “disappeared” with no explanation.

      • No user posts have been removed, and everything pending has been approved (as they are multiple times per day). What is the specific comment you’re referring to? I don’t see anything pending from your username.

        • I can’t tell you which posts were removed because they’re gone.

          I was asking Strych9 if one of his posts had been removed.
          “Guess my OP hurt some fefes in the staff.”

        • Ahh…I appreciate your reply, Justin. We could never get any confirmation from Dan, Jeremy, et all from the previous TTAG mgmt about comment moderation. But you’ve confirmed that there *is* someone reviewing pending comments.

          I’ve been reading TTAG for years going back, and actively commenting for five now. This is the first confirmation despite all the questions we’ve asked.

        • I’m not sure why any ‘regular poster’ here would need to be moderated in the first place. If TTAG considers that necessary then THAT user should be completely blocked. Even if it’s me. Otherwise, filter out spammers and advertisers.

          Very far from me to tell you how to handle YOUR website. But we are living at a time when free speech rights online has been called into question. Many people have been asking what’s going on with comment moderation and getting very little if any feedback. I would be more than happy to abide by the rules here. But how can I do that if no one knows what those rules actually are? It seems to be completely random at times and focused on certain words at others.

          Personally, I think TTAG is running way too much script within it’s pages and pulling in crazy ads that are purposely put there. Things that have absolutely NOTHING to do with guns. Often being just plain disgusting.

          So how about you guys be a little more open and honest with us about this?

  25. If your sheriff attended the recent sheriffs conference, if they have not already made public what they were briefed on during the conference (see one such sheriff who did share publicly in a video a little up in the comments here at https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/say-aloha-to-your-guns-hawaii-court-gets-creative-aka-stupid-on-the-second-amendment/#comment-7006518) – you may want to try to get them to disclose at least something about it. Most are not saying anything because they do not want to alarm the public or have this idea they are going to ‘handle’ it, none of them are disclosing everything. In ‘secret’ meetings during sheriff and police org conferences the FBI and other federal agencies have briefed these attendees on the now-to-be-considered-imminently-pending attacks as no longer “if” or “maybe” in any concept of the words but rather ‘when’ and ‘will for a fact happen soon’.

    But basically, to put that all together with what is already known, here is the overall scenario painted ….

    In the (probable) coming terrorist attacks (as a result of unconstitutional and illegal Joe Biden’s lawlessness and tyranny and in not protecting our southern border) – Hawaii and California and Illinois and (soon) Washington state and New York will suffer the greatest number of victims from those attacks in the beginning simply because their governments and courts have been so prolific in creating a ‘ready supply of defenseless victims’ vulnerable population by use of unconstitutional law making and decisions to disarm their citizens.

    The rest of the country will also suffer.

    The enemy is at the gates. Biden bought them in, literally millions of them known to be terrorists and from countries known to be hostile to the United States, military aged males, most already equipped and well funded by American tax dollars that were given to the United Nations by Biden specifically to go to NGO’s for ‘immigration’ or by their country of origin through the NGO’s from which there is zero accounting for the funding. Several of these NGO’s groups have already been spotted aiding in the movement of arms and ammunition and supplies along with large groups of these military aged males to our southern border, arms and ammunition and equipment now known to be inside the United States with these military aged males. Several of these NGO’s have established what are essentially ‘staging points’ for them here in the United States in all of the states I mentioned above, buying out space in specific hotels and ‘public building space’ with America tax dollars aided by liberal democrat ‘government’ entities of those states (and various other areas of the country) where they are housed – specifically these and no other immigrants, no immigrant families or children, no elderly immigrants, just these specific military aged males. They are literally, essentially, hiding in plain sight, well fed and cared for.

    It will begin, for our citizens, like it did for Israel – attacks on areas known to be more defenseless because the citizens are disarmed by their governments and their courts decisions. These attendees have also been told, basically, there will be no federal government help or military forces provided to defend against these attacks. Its going to be up to your local police forces and sheriffs if they can possibly (and 99.9% of them can’t, simply not enough man power) but they will not be there in the imminent moment when you need help the most – so in reality – its actually going to be up to you to defend your self and family and maybe neighbors if you can.

    Hawaii, your court decision has probably killed many.

    • In short, in the above “scenario” ….

      liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, LGBTQ or not…all demographics no matter race or politics, excluding the well connected wealthy elite (at least for a while) – that president and those anti-gun governors and politicians you democrats and liberal voters put in office, those anti-gun organizations, all of these want you dead and they are trying to make it happen.

      Get armed, get ammo, get ready – those anti-gun politicians you cheer and put in office, they are coming for you by proxy to try to literally kill you.

    • .40 cal Booger,

      You stated:

      “Several of these NGO’s groups have already been spotted aiding in the movement of arms and ammunition and supplies along with large groups of these military aged males to our southern border, arms and ammunition and equipment now known to be inside the United States with these military aged males.”

      While that is certainly plausible, I need a really good source (or better yet multiple sources) for that information before I rearrange my priorities and expend additional resources on preparatory measures beyond what I already have in place.

      Second, what sort of action are we anticipating? Are 5 dudes going to deploy homemade pressure-cooker contraptions (whose gases will expand at 10,000+ feet-per-second) in crowded urban venues? Are 50,000 military age males from United States adversaries going to launch a sudden coordinated attack and rape / mutilate / murder as many people as they can? Something else?

  26. “No reasonable prosecutor would bring this case.”

    “Elderly man with a poor memory.”

    “Spirit of Aloha”

    Democrats have replaced jurisprudence with bumper-sticker, feel-good excuses for violating the law and our constitutional rights.

  27. 2nd attempt to post in 2 days

    Looks like Hawaii just gave Bruen the finger and got away with it. Just another day in the corrupt world of the U.S. Courts that pay no more attention to prior judicial judgements than they do to a squished pineapple in the middle of the road.

    There is an old adage “The U.S. Constitution does not mean what is says it means rather it means what the corrupt Courts say it means depending on which side of the political spectrum they are on”.

    • Sadly, that’s how “justice” works. It ebbs and flows and bends with the political winds. To politicians, and judges, there is no standard but power.

      We normal people may hold the governmental guardrails of the constitution in high regard, but the ruling class doesn’t share our sentiment.

      “The Constitution has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.” –Lysander Spooner

    • “the U.S. Courts that pay no more attention to prior judicial judgements than they do to a squished pineapple in the middle of the road”

      That’s why blacks can’t be citizens of the US (Dred Scott v. Sandford) and segregation is legal (Plessy v. Ferguson). Both of these Supreme Court decisions were considered “settled law” for years. That’s what you’re advocating.

        • Recently, you were ranting about how the reversal of Roe v. Wade made women into sex slaves who are forced to bear unwanted children. Well, Roe v. Wade, a bad decision that was in effect for 50 years, was overturned just as the Dred Scott and Plessy decisions were overturned. BTW, look up “stare decisis” in your legal dictionary, pissant.

  28. “Citing the island’s history as an independent kingdom…”
    …
    “The thing about the old days, they the old days.”

    This guy wasn’t even capable of holding a standard for a single argument. This guy is a judge? The “Spirit of Aloha” doesn’t seem to place much value in rhetoric or liberty.

  30. Friendly reminder that 18 U.S. Code § 242 – Deprivation of rights under color of law
    still has the death penalty for any traitor that removes a constitutional right to the point that anyone dies as a result. A single person dying while being denied the right to buy a gun for self defense is enough to hand out the death penalty to any politician and judge responsible. That’s literally the law!

    • Max Mueller,

      While that is the law, it is a moot point since prosecutors refuse to enforce it on judges and politicians.

  31. Hawaii Supreme Court: Supremacy clause? We don’t recognize no stinkin Supremacy clause!

    We got the Spirit of Aloha!

    This is a legal insurrection…

    • Here we see the Left’s respect for the Rule of Law, ladies and gentlemen.

      Everything these people say is a slogan. Everything they do is a tactic. They have no principles, just a playbook. They never actually believed in free speech, or the rule of law, or democracy, or equality. To them “justice” means “whatever I want right now” and “Nazi” means “anyone who has ever disagreed with me about anything.” (“It’s a living document. It means whatever I want it to mean today.”)

      These tactics, these word games, they appear to be working pretty well for them. They’re evil and insane, but not stupid. And we may not be voting our way out of this.

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