During Supreme Court oral arguments in Wolford v. Lopez Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson contended that “Black Codes” may offer precedent necessary to justify Hawaiian gun controls.
At question are Hawaii gun restrictions barring even licensed concealed carriers from carrying on private property that is open to the public unless said carriers first get permission from the land owner.
The restriction is being weighed in light of Bruen (2022), which requires gun controls to be tested on the basis of historicity and tradition.
Justice Jackson contended regarding the “Black Codes,” which were popular throughout the Democrat south, “I thought the Black Codes were being offered here under the Bruen test to determine the constitutionality of this regulation. And it’s because we have a test that asks us to look at the history and tradition…”
She went on to say that, “The fact that the Black Codes were at some later point determined themselves to be unconstitutional doesn’t seem to me to be relevant to the assessment that Bruen is asking us to make.”
Jackson also contended that the Hawaiian gun control is a way to bolster property rights.
Reuters noted that Justice Sam Alito told Hawaii’s attorney, “You are just relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
