The next ruling on carrying in public from the Ninth Circus.
HONOLULU (AP) — A federal appeals court is giving a Hawaii man another chance to argue that he should be allowed to carry a gun in public — a privilege rarely given to people in the state.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion Thursday sending Christopher Baker's motion for a preliminary injunction back to District Court. Baker filed a lawsuit in 2011 against the Honolulu Police Department after he was denied a license to carry a gun in public for self-defense.
The appeals court said the lower court erred when it ruled that Baker couldn't prove Hawaii's restrictions on carrying firearms violate the Second Amendment.
I've read in the past -- although I cannot swear to accuracy -- that although Hawaii is a "may issue" state, for many years there was only one person actually issued a license in Honolulu.The appeals court cited its February opinion in a San Diego case where, "we concluded that the Second Amendment provides a responsible, law-abiding citizen with a right to carry an operable handgun outside the home for the purpose of self-defense."
In light of that ruling, the three-judge panel said, "the district court made an error of law when it concluded that the Hawaii statutes did not implicate protected Second Amendment activity." One judge dissented, noting that Baker argued he needed a weapon to defend himself in his job as a process server, but he was no longer in that business.
