WASHINGTON, June 25 (DC Times Online) — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Hawaii’s so-called “vampire rule,” ruling 6-3 that the state cannot require concealed-carry permit holders to get a property owner’s consent before entering certain private places open to the public.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority that Hawaii’s law “violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.” The court’s three liberal justices dissented.
The case, Wolford v. Lopez, centered on a Hawaii law that restricted lawful gun owners from carrying firearms onto some privately owned property unless the owner approved it.
The ruling adds to a line of Second Amendment decisions that began with District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, when the court struck down Washington’s handgun ban, and continued with McDonald v. City of Chicago in 2010, which applied the right to state and local governments.
