In a 6-3 split along party lines, the Supreme Court struck down one of Hawaii’s most restrictive concealed carry laws, something dubbed the Vampire Law by Civil Rights groups. The case Wolf v. Lopez focused on a portion of Hawaii’s Concealed Carry Act that required law-abiding concealed carriers to obtain permission from private businesses before they could carry concealed on their property.
The law made it a crime for a licensed concealed-carry permit holder to set foot on any private property without express and affirmative consent. The Vampire Law was a useless hunk of garbage that essentially rendered your right to concealed carry void outside of sidewalks. That was the entire point: to restrict concealed carry to the point where it was practically impossible to exercise one’s right to bear arms.
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The Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot flip the legal default to make a business publicly open an automatic gun-free zone. With that said, the businesses are still free to post no-gun signs, which carry the weight of law in Hawaii. If a business truly decides they do not want guns on the property, it can post a sign, and concealed carriers are obliged to obey the signage.
The Decision
Justice Alito noted that the law “hobbles what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.” The law forces the average gun owner into a legal minefield the moment they step out of the house.
In a baffling attempt to keep the law on the books, the state used the “Black Code” instituted by Louisiana in 1865, which kept newly freed black Americans from being armed on plantations. This earned some scathing comments from the Justices.
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Why Vampire Laws Are Silly and Unsafe
Imagine being a concealed carry holder and seeing a restaurant you want to eat at. You can’t legally carry because you don’t have permission. So what do you do? Unholster, leave the gun in your car, go inside, and ask a hostess making minimum wage, “Hey, can I bring a gun in here?”
How exactly would that play out? Best case, the hostess likely doesn’t know the policy, wouldn’t be able to give an answer one way or the other, and would seek out a manager. Worst case, the question itself gives the hostess a bit of a scare, and she calls the police. However, under the previous laws, that was what was required.
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A third in between would be the hostess saying sure, not knowing the restaurant does not allow concealed carry, and then the carrier could be stuck in a he said, she said situation legally.
The aim of the law is supposedly safety. However, like all gun laws, they only affect the law-abiding. If someone was going to bring a gun inside a business for the sake of crime, do you think they would ever stop and ask the hostess if they could? No, they would just leave it under their shirt until they didn’t.
In terms of safety, the law does two things that could decrease safety. First, it requires unnecessary administrative handling of a firearm. Removing the gun to go into a business to ask if you can carry inside means unholstering, and unneeded administrative handling inside a vehicle creates more risk.
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Second, it requires a gun to be left inside a vehicle. Preferably in a safe. Still, that’s an unattended firearm in a vehicle. With the number of guns stolen from vehicles, we know this is an unsafe practice.
The Vampire Law Gets Staked
Of course, the anti-gun crowd is doing what they do best: lying about the decision. Everytown For Gun Safety said:
“This ‘no-carry’ default simply codifies what most Americans already believe: You don’t walk into someone else’s home or business with a weapon unless you know you’re welcome to do so. This is a common-sense safety measure that prevents confusion and potentially dangerous confrontations.”
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The ruling doesn’t affect residential dwellings. It affects businesses open to the public, and that’s it. They planted the word home right by the business to continue to lie to Americans.
The 2nd Amendment is not a second-class right. Imagine, if you will, having to seek a business owner’s permission to wear a religious medallion or head covering before entering their business. Or, even a T-shirt, or to seek permission to even speak in the business.
The Vampire Law needed to go, and I’m glad to see it catch a stake.
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