amp.theguardian.com Open in urlscan Pro
2a04:4e42:200::367  Public Scan

Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM

POST

<form id="reminderForm" data-amp-bind-hidden="epicState.reminder.hideReminderForm" method="post" action-xhr="https://contributions.guardianapis.com/amp/set_reminder" target="_blank" custom-validation-reporting="interact-and-submit"
  enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  on="submit-success:AMP.setState({epicState:{reminder:{hideReminderCta: true, hideSuccessMessage: false, hideReminderForm: true, headerText: 'Thank you! Your reminder is set.'}}});submit-error:AMP.setState({epicState:{reminder:{hideFailureMessage:false}}})">
  <div class="dcr-amp-1d7zodn">Email address</div>
  <div visible-when-invalid="typeMismatch" validation-for="email" class="dcr-amp-1pkyyfr"><svg viewBox="0 0 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="dcr-amp-1wc9szu">
      <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd"
        d="M14.41 5L4 22.057l.668.943h20.664l.668-.943L15.59 5h-1.18zm-.063 12.178h1.306l.621-6.917-.856-.728h-.835l-.857.728.62 6.917zM15 18.452c.7 0 1.274.573 1.274 1.274 0 .7-.573 1.274-1.274 1.274-.7 0-1.274-.573-1.274-1.274 0-.7.573-1.274 1.274-1.274z">
      </path>
    </svg>Please enter a valid email address</div>
  <div visible-when-invalid="valueMissing" validation-for="email" class="dcr-amp-1pkyyfr"><svg viewBox="0 0 30 30" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" class="dcr-amp-1wc9szu">
      <path fill-rule="evenodd" clip-rule="evenodd"
        d="M14.41 5L4 22.057l.668.943h20.664l.668-.943L15.59 5h-1.18zm-.063 12.178h1.306l.621-6.917-.856-.728h-.835l-.857.728.62 6.917zM15 18.452c.7 0 1.274.573 1.274 1.274 0 .7-.573 1.274-1.274 1.274-.7 0-1.274-.573-1.274-1.274 0-.7.573-1.274 1.274-1.274z">
      </path>
    </svg>Please enter your email address</div><input type="hidden" name="isPreContribution" value="true"><input type="hidden" name="reminderDate" data-amp-bind-value="epicState.reminder.reminderPeriod"><input id="email" name="email" type="email"
    required="" class="dcr-amp-17uc6hk"><button on="tap:reminderForm.submit" class="dcr-amp-1rkpz1l">Set a reminder<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 20 17.89" preserveAspectRatio="xMinYMid" aria-hidden="true" focusable="false"
      class="dcr-amp-p651nl">
      <path d="M20 9.35l-9.08 8.54-.86-.81 6.54-7.31H0V8.12h16.6L10.06.81l.86-.81L20 8.51v.84z"></path>
    </svg></button>
  <div data-amp-bind-hidden="epicState.reminder.hideFailureMessage" class="dcr-amp-akr4vh">Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. Please try again later.</div>
  <div class="dcr-amp-cse2h4">We will send you a maximum of two emails in <span data-amp-bind-text="epicState.reminder.reminderLabel"></span>. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, view our
    <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/help/privacy-policy">Privacy Policy</a>.</div>
</form>

Text Content

User Consent Prompt
Focus Prompt
Support us
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian: news website of the year
 * News
 * Opinion
 * Sport
 * Culture
 * Lifestyle

Show captionThe plaintiff claimed that he had legally purchased the weapon in
Florida in 2013. Photograph: Bing Guan/Reuters
Hawaii


HAWAII RULES AGAINST PUBLIC CARRYING OF GUNS WITHOUT PERMIT, CITING ‘ALOHA
SPIRIT’

State’s high court upholds the Hawaiian Spirit Law and quotes The Wire in
apparent rebuke to US supreme court: ‘They the old days’

Edward Helmore
Sat 10 Feb 2024 08.00 EST
 * Share on Facebook
 * Share on Twitter
 * Share via Email

Hawaii’s highest court, citing the state’s “spirit of aloha”, has ruled that a
person can be prosecuted for carrying a gun in public without a permit, in an
apparent rebuke to the US supreme court that has been looking favorably on
efforts to expand gun rights.

The state supreme court of Hawaii reviewed a 2017 case against Christopher
Wilson, who had an unregistered, loaded pistol in his front waistband when
police were called after a Maui landowner reported seeing a group of men on his
property at night.

US supreme court refuses to overturn Illinois assault weapons ban

The court denied the man’s request to dismiss weapons possession charges on
grounds that they violated a right to bear arms enshrined in the US constitution
in 1791, Fox News reported.

“As the world turns, it makes no sense for contemporary society to pledge
allegiance to the founding era’s culture, realities, laws, and understanding of
the Constitution,” the 53-page ruling said before borrowing a phrase from the
hit HBO series The Wire, set in the crime-ridden streets of Baltimore.



“The thing about the old days, they the old days,” the court added in its
decision, for emphasis that contemporary culture shouldn’t be shaped entirely by
the founding fathers of the US.

“The spirit of aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets
citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities,” added
Justice Todd Eddins in an opinion. “The history of the Hawaiian Islands does not
include a society where armed people move about the community to possibly combat
the deadly aims of others.”

Under 1986’s Hawaiian Spirit Law, the state mandates that state officials and
judges treat the public with “aloha spirit”, described as the coordination of
the heart and mind to foster connectivity and peace that calls for contemplation
and presence of five life-force traits: “akahai” (kindness, expressed with
tenderness); “lōkahi” (unity, expressed with harmony); “oluʻolu” (agreeableness,
expressed with pleasantness); “haʻahaʻa” (humility, expressed with modesty); and
“ahonui’” (patience, expressed with perseverance).



The Wilson case has been winding its way through the court system, with the
plaintiff claiming that he had legally purchased the weapon in Florida in 2013.
But Wilson had not registered the gun in Hawaii, which has some of the nation’s
strictest gun laws, and had not obtained or applied for a permit.

The case made its way to the state’s supreme court after the US supreme court
further relaxed restrictions on gun ownership via the New York State Rifle &
Pistol Association v Bruen case in 2022.

The ruling in State of Hawaii v Christopher Wilson does not throw out the
concept of the right to bear firearms but rather establishes that states may
retain the authority to require people to obtain a permit for their firearm
before they may carry it in public.



After the ruling, Hawaii attorney general Anne Lopez said it was a landmark
decision “that affirms the constitutionality of crucial gun-safety legislation”
and that “commonsense tools like licensing and registration have an important
role to play in addressing that problem”.

But Ben Lowenthal, an attorney for Wilson, said they may now seek a review from
the federal appeals court.

Alan Beck, an attorney not involved in the Wilson case, told the Associated
Press that the ruling reflects a “culture in Hawaii that’s very resistant to
change”. “The use of pop culture references to attempt to rebuke the supreme
court’s detailed historical analysis is evidence this is not a well-reasoned
opinion,” he added.



But Eddins noted that Hawaii’s gun regulations date back to the 1800s, when
Hawaii was a kingdom and King Kamehameha III had “promulgated a law prohibiting
‘any person or persons’ on shore from possessing a weapon, including any ‘knife,
sword-cane, or any other dangerous weapon’”.

“We believe it is a misplaced view to think that today’s public safety laws must
look like laws passed long ago,” Eddins added. “Smoothbore, muzzle-loaded, and
powder-and-ramrod muskets were not exactly useful to colonial-era mass
murderers. And life is a bit different now, in a nation with a lot more people,
stretching to islands in the Pacific Ocean.”


{{#ticker}}

{{topLeft}}

{{bottomLeft}}

{{topRight}}

{{bottomRight}}

{{#goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}

{{/goalExceededMarkerPercentage}}

{{/ticker}}


{{HEADING}}

{{#paragraphs}}

{{.}}

{{/paragraphs}}{{highlightedText}}
{{#choiceCards}}


One-timeMonthlyAnnual

Other
{{/choiceCards}}
{{#cta}}{{text}}{{/cta}}


Email address
Please enter a valid email address
Please enter your email address
Set a reminder
Sorry we couldn't set a reminder for you this time. Please try again later.
We will send you a maximum of two emails in . To find out what personal data we
collect and how we use it, view our Privacy Policy.
We will be in touch to remind you to contribute. Look out for a message in your
inbox in . If you have any questions about contributing, please contact us.

Topics
 * Hawaii

 * US gun control
 * US supreme court
 * Law (US)
 * news

 * Share on Facebook
 * Share on Twitter
 * Share via Email
 * Share on LinkedIn
 * Share on WhatsApp
 * Share on Messenger

View on theguardian.com
{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

{{#showContent}}
{{displayName}}
{{#description}}
{{description}}
{{/description}}{{#content}}{{#headline}}


{{#ISVIDEO}}{{/ISVIDEO}}{{#ISGALLERY}}{{/ISGALLERY}}{{#ISAUDIO}}{{/ISAUDIO}}{{#ISCOMMENT}}{{/ISCOMMENT}}{{HEADLINE}}

{{#isComment}}
{{byline}}
{{/isComment}}
{{#showWebPublicationDate}} {{webPublicationDate}}{{/showWebPublicationDate}}
{{headline}}
{{/headline}}{{/content}}
{{/showContent}}
Show more

 * About us
 * Contact us
 * Complaints and corrections
 * SecureDrop
 * Work for us
 * Privacy settings
 * Privacy policy
 * Cookie policy
 * Terms & conditions
 * Help

 * All topics
 * All writers
 * Modern Slavery Act
 * Digital newspaper archive
 * Facebook
 * Twitter

 * Advertise with us
 * Search jobs
 * Patrons

Support the Guardian
Support us
Back to top
© 2024 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights
reserved.
Close the sidebar
   {{ #topLevelSections }}


 * {{ TITLE }}
   
      {{ #subSections }}
    * {{ title }}
      {{ /subSections }}

   {{ /topLevelSections }}

   {{ #readerRevenueLinks }}
 * {{ title }}
   {{ /readerRevenueLinks }}
 * Sign in / Register


SWITCH EDITION

   {{ #editions }}
 * {{ displayName }}
   {{ /editions }}

   {{ #secondarySections }}
 * {{ title }}
   {{ /secondarySections }}


Close the sidebar