Several gunowners-rights groups have filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Wolford v. Lopez, urging the Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding Hawaii’s infamous “Vampire Rule.”
The “vampire rule” description is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the adage that vampires can’t enter places unless they’re invited.
The question presented to the Supreme Court is, “Whether the Ninth Circuit erred in holding, in direct conflict with the Second Circuit, that Hawaii may presumptively prohibit the carry of handguns by licensed concealed carry permit holders on private property open to the public unless the property owner affirmatively gives express permission to the handgun carrier?”
The Hawaii law, like similar statutes in California, New York and other states, declares virtually all private property open to the public off-limits for lawful carry unless the property owner gives express permission. That means carry in Hawaii grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and more is, by default, illegal.
The result: permit holders who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights are effectively banished from most places.
“This is the post-Bruen rebellion in its purest form,” said Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) Director of Legal Research and Education Kostas Moros. “Anti-gun states invented the ‘Vampire Rule’ for the sole purpose of nullifying the right to carry. They are not protecting private property rights. They are deliberately making public carry so burdensome that citizens will simply give up. The Ninth Circuit blessed this transparent end-run around the Second Amendment and only the Supreme Court can stop it.”
SAF is joined in the amicus by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Connecticut Citizens Defense League, and Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. The individual gun owners named in the suit are Jason Wolford, Alison Wolford, and Atom Kasprzycki. Respondent is Anne Lopez, in her official capacity as Hawaii’s Attorney General.
The 26-page amicus brief details the problems with Hawaii’s statute, which has been boiled down to what critics call the “Vampire Rule,” which requires legally-armed citizens to get permission from individual property owners before entering ordinary places which are open to the public, such as restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies and even gas stations.
“If the Ninth Circuit’s decision stands, the constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense will exist only on paper in large parts of the country,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The Supreme Court made clear in Bruen that the right to carry cannot be eviscerated by turning nearly every place people actually go into a gun-free zone. We are confident the Justices will take this case and put an end to this ‘Vampire Rule’ once and for all.”
Separately, a Department of Justice brief aligns with the gun owners, and it argues that Hawaii’s law violates the Second Amendment by banning concealed carry on private property open to the public without a historical tradition to back it up.
The DOJ brief also calls the law a “severe burden” on Second Amendment rights. It argues that places like stores or restaurants are functionally public for carry purposes, and banning guns in those locations without historical back up means the 9th Circuit got the decision wrong.
