The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Hawaii man’s appeal seeking to dismiss criminal charges for carrying a handgun while hiking, effectively upholding a state court ruling against him. Christopher Wilson was arrested in 2017 for illegally carrying a .22-caliber pistol and ammunition on private property without a license, violating Hawaii’s strict gun laws.
Wilson argued that his Second Amendment rights—reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which affirmed the right to carry firearms in public—protected his actions. However, the Hawaii Supreme Court rejected that argument, stating its state constitution supports a more collective interpretation of gun rights, focused on militias rather than individuals.
In a sharp rebuke of Bruen, the Hawaii court accused the U.S. Supreme Court of distorting history to justify broad gun rights. It criticized the so-called “historical tradition” test outlined in Bruen, warning that relying on 18th- or 19th-century precedent to guide modern law is both “fuzzy” and dangerous.
Though the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case for procedural reasons, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito expressed concern that Hawaii’s ruling failed to respect Second Amendment protections. Wilson’s case, supported by several pro-gun groups, highlights growing tension between state-level gun regulations and expanding federal gun rights.
