Effort Underway to Halt Hawaii's Restrictive Firearm Permitting Requirements

News Release from NRA-ILA, April 11, 2019

FAIRFAX, Va.– The Hawaii Rifle Association, with the support of the National Rifle Association, filed a motion today seeking an immediate injunction against the unlawful and unconstitutional requirements Hawaii imposes on residents who wish to carry a firearm for self-defense. 

The injunction was filed as part of an ongoing lawsuit, Livingston v. Ballard, challenging Hawaii’s extreme requirement that a carry license can only be issued in “urgent” or “exceptional” instances. 

 “The law in Hawaii is so restrictive that not a single person has been issued a permit since 2013. It amounts to a prohibition on carrying a firearm, and that’s unconstitutional,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director, National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA.) 

 The injunction asks the court to lift the extreme standard while the case is being litigated. 

 “Americans have a fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.  Under the current system, Hawaii is denying its citizens their ability to exercise that right. This must change,” Cox concluded. 

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Related: Levinson: Ballard's Second Amendment Stance 'Could Precipitate Legal Catastrophe'