The Supreme Court took up its next Second Amendment case Friday, agreeing to hear a challenge to Hawaii’s ban on carrying concealed weapons on private property without the owner’s express consent.
Three Hawaii residents and a local gun rights group, backed by the Trump administration, urged the justices to review a lower ruling upholding the state’s law.
In a brief order, the justices set the case to be heard this upcoming term. A decision is expected by next summer.
It marks the Supreme Court’s latest case that will apply its expanded Second Amendment test it laid out in 2022 requiring gun control measures to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
It has led lower courts to strike down many gun regulations across the country, but judges have also split on aspects of applying the test.
Last year, the court provided additional guidance by ruling a federal crime on gun possession for domestic abusers was constitutional. The Justice Department and gun rights groups alike have since asked the justices to continue taking up Second Amendment cases to provide additional clarity.
Hawaii is one of several states that by default prohibits permitholders from carrying guns on private property that’s open to the public unless the property owner gives express consent, such as hanging a sign.
The challengers urged the Supreme Court to take up the dispute to resolve a split between the appeals court that upheld Hawaii’s law and an appeals court on the East Coast that struck down a similar provision in New York.
“The scope and operation of Hawaii’s default rule thus establish that the rule serves no legitimate objective and that it instead seeks simply to impede the carrying of firearms. That is plainly unconstitutional,” the Justice Department wrote in court papers backing the appeal.
Hawaii urged the justices to turn away the challenge and instead allow more lower courts to weigh in on the issue.
“Petitioners seek to short-circuit this important stage of lower court percolation,” Hawaii wrote.
Updated at 9:51 a.m. EDT
