Urgency claimed in Hawaii lawsuit over public carry of guns

The Hawaii Rifle Association is attempting to obtain quick action in a 2-week-old federal lawsuit aimed at allowing many residents statewide to carry loaded handguns in public.

Attorneys for the gun advocacy group and four Honolulu residents filed a motion Thursday seeking a preliminary injunction in the case, arguing that waiting for the case to be litigated will cause irreparable harm to the plaintiffs, who feel a need to carry guns.

“Americans have a fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” said Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, which is supporting the Hawaii Rifle Association in its effort. “Under the current system, Hawaii is denying its citizens their ability to exercise that right. This must change.”

The Hawaii Rifle Association and four individuals filed their lawsuit March 29, claiming that the plaintiffs and association members have had applications to carry handguns in public unconstitutionally denied by county police departments.

The lawsuit cites state Department of the Attorney General reports showing only one application was approved on Kauai out of 148 submitted statewide over six years from 2012 to 2017. These figures exclude applications approved for people to carry handguns for work, such as drivers of armored cars.

Hawaii law allows county police departments to give individuals permits to carry handguns openly or concealed for personal reasons under limited conditions that include being of good moral character and demonstrating a need for protection in an “exceptional” case.

“Exceptional” isn’t defined in statute, but then-Attorney General Russell Suzuki advised last year that it means a person’s need for protection “substantially exceeds that held by ordinary law-abiding citizens.” Specific circumstances could include someone targeted with credible threats of death or serious bodily harm, or someone who faces heightened risk of attack or violence due to their profession, Sukuki said in a written opinion.

Four Honolulu residents claim they applied to carry handguns and were unfairly denied. The individuals — Ronald Livingston, Michael J. Botello, Kitiya M. Shiroma and Jacob Stewart — sued the City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Police Chief Susan Ballard and state Attorney General Clare Connors in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit contends HPD didn’t seriously consider the applications expressing exceptional needs for self-defense, and that other members of the Hawaii Rifle Association have met the same fate. The injunction motion claims that simply denying the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to bear arms constitutes irreparable injury that merits an injunction. It also claims that irreparable physical harm is risked unless an injunction is granted.

Irreparable harm is one requirement for an injunction. A judge determining plaintiffs are likely to win the case on merits is another criterion.

HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the the city Department of Corporation Counsel and state Attorney General Department are working with HPD on the case but that it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment due to the pending litigation.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court could weigh in on Hawaii’s law for issuing handgun carry permits. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the law violates the Second Amendment. But this case is on hold pending a Supreme Court decision on a similar case in Florida.