U.S. appeals court decision allows states to restrict carry of guns in public

While the 215-page decision pertained to a specific Hawaii gun regulation, the NRA added the ramifications impacted a few different states.

While today’s results can be appealed to the Supreme Court, odds are slim they’d take it up. They threw out hearing a New York gun case back in April 2020, and that was the first of its kind to get that far since 2010.

Two Bush appointees and five Democrats voted in favor of upholding a local law in Hawaii that limits permits to: “urgent need,” “engaged in protection of life and property,” and hunting.

Surprisingly today’s decision overturned a previous Appeal Court ruling made in the past few years. “We can find no general right to carry arms into the public square for self-defense,” said Judge Jay Bybee in the majority opinion.

In the dissent, they argued: “the majority’s suggestion that the values of federalism somehow preclude the Second Amendment from guaranteeing an individual right to carry arms for self-defense in the public square is fundamentally misguided.”

Gun control activist groups like Everytown for Gun Safety praised the news.

This ruling comes as American gun rights are at the center focus in Washington. Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been on the forefront of pushing back against this, saying taking guns from law-abiding citizens won’t reduce crime. Today the White House Press Secretary doubled down on the potential for Joe Biden to use executive orders for sweeping gun control regulation.