Hawaiʻi attorney general joins group to back N.Y. rules restricting guns in ‘sensitive places’

Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general supporting the constitutionality of New York’s concealed-carry laws.

“Common-sense firearms laws — like New York’s rules prohibiting guns in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings — are constitutional and effective,” Lopez said in a news release. “Laws like these have a crucial role to play in protecting the public from the serious risks of gun violence.”

Lopez and the coalition are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to reverse a lower court decision that preliminarily enjoined certain aspects of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act.

In an amicus brief filed in Antonyuk v. Nigrelli, the coalition argues that the CCIA’s provisions — which include new concealed-carry license requirements and restrictions on carrying firearms in certain sensitive places such as schools, public parks, and airports — are constitutional. 

The coalitionfurther argues that licensing requirements offer a common-sense way to ensure that guns are not carried by individuals who demonstrably lack the character or temperament necessary to be entrusted with a deadly weapon.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, known as the Bruen case, litigation challenging gun relations has increased dramatically nationwide.  

In Hawaiʻi, the Department of the Attorney General has been vigorously defending challenges to important firearm regulations, including Hawaiʻi’s lawful regulations prohibiting the possession of assault pistols and large capacity magazines, the release said.

Joining Lopez in filing the brief are the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.