Ninth Circuit Upholds Hawaii Firearm Permit-to-Purchase Law

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Hawaii’s firearm permit-to-purchase system in a closely divided 6–5 en banc decision in Yukutake v. Lopez, potentially strengthening the legal position of similar firearm licensing requirements throughout the Ninth Circuit.

The lawsuit challenged Hawaii’s “shall issue” licensing system for acquiring firearms, including requirements surrounding the state’s permit process and the limited period in which an approved handgun permit can be used. The court concluded that permit-to-purchase requirements can be constitutional under the Second Amendment, relying in part on language from the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision.

At the center of the decision is Footnote 9 of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In that footnote, the Supreme Court explained that objective “shall issue” licensing systems are not necessarily unconstitutional when they use requirements such as background checks or firearm safety courses to determine whether applicants are law-abiding citizens. However, the Court also left open challenges when licensing systems involve excessive fees, lengthy delays or other requirements that effectively prevent citizens from exercising their rights.

The Ninth Circuit applied that reasoning to Hawaii’s acquisition licensing system, concluding that the challenged requirements had not been shown to create a meaningful constraint on the right to keep and bear arms. The decision therefore leaves Hawaii’s permit-to-purchase framework largely intact.

The ruling could have broader implications for California and Washington, where lawmakers have pursued their own permit-to-purchase requirements. California’s SB 948, for example, would expand the state’s firearm safety certificate requirements to include classroom instruction, live-fire training, proficiency testing and additional requirements before purchasing a firearm.

Although California and Washington’s laws differ from Hawaii’s system and could face separate constitutional challenges, Yukutake v. Lopez establishes significant Ninth Circuit precedent supporting objective firearm acquisition licensing requirements. Future challenges will likely focus on whether particular requirements cross the line from permissible licensing conditions into a meaningful burden on the exercise of Second Amendment rights.