WASHINGTON, June 25 (DC Times Online) — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down Hawaii’s so-called “vampire rule,” saying the state cannot require concealed-carry permit holders to get a property owner’s permission before entering certain privately owned places open to the public.
In a 6-3 decision in Wolford v. Lopez, Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority that Hawaii’s law “violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.” He also said the rule “hobble[s] what the Second Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives.”
NBC News reported that three liberal justices dissented. The decision was issued by the court in Washington, D.C.
The ruling adds to a line of major Second Amendment cases that began with District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008, when the court struck down Washington’s handgun ban, and McDonald v. City of Chicago in 2010, which extended the right recognized in Heller to state and local governments.
The court’s earlier decision in Heller was 5-4 and was written by Justice Antonin Scalia. President George W. Bush later praised that ruling, saying it confirmed an individual right to keep and bear firearms.
