Win in Hawaii Over Permitting Delays

The assault on liberties inflicted upon Hawaiians is a constant flow. Recently, attorney Alan Beck removed yet another infringement; this one has to do with permitting delays.

This case hinges around the statutorily defined time limit that issuing authorities have to process permits to acquire firearms. It was alleged that the County of Hawaii was taking in excess of the 40 days to issue permits, as prescribed by law. Arnold et.al. v. County of Hawaii was filed in federal court on Feb. 10 and settled on May 4. The settlement entailed the parties entering into a stipulated judgment.

The original filing made some claims about how the Aloha State has handled the post-Buren landscape. “The State of Hawaii has not gotten the United States Supreme Court’s message from Bruen,” the complaint alleges. “Prior to Bruen, Hawaii had treated, for more than a century, the Second Amendment as dead, buried and forgotten having almost never issued any concealed carry permits.

“Once Bruen was decided and county police chiefs began to issue a trickle of concealed carry permits, under new county specific onerous carry concealed permit regulations, the state legislature acted to ensure that even if people managed to overcome the burdensome requirements to actually obtain a concealed carry permit, the permits would be rendered utterly useless.”

The judgment is a permanent injunction against the County of Hawaii from the “acts described” in the order. Specifically the court ordered that plaintiff White will have their application “processed in accordance with Hawaii Revised Statutes …” And for all named plaintiffs, the county must “issue a decision granting or denying each applicant’s PTA application before the fortieth day from the date of application as required under …”

The order further notes that “all claims for damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs has been reached“ and is outlined in a separate agreement.

“Today, Kevin (O’Grady) and I won our Big Island waiting times case for permits to acquire,” Beck wrote in a social media post. “In Hawaii, a permit to acquire is required to own a firearm. The County was taking more than 40 days to process a permit to acquire and state law requires that a permit to acquire be processed in less than 40 days. The County has agreed to a court order which requires going forward for it to process our clients’ permits to acquire in less than 40 days.”

The plaintiffs did not concede that a permit should be required or that they find any infringement to be acceptable in their filing. Hawaii not following their own law was highlighted. The very topic of excessive wait times was discussed in the Bruen decision and is worth repeating.

Footnote #9 infamously said that “shall issue” carry licensing regimes are presumptively constitutional, but added, “That said, because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.”

This is another big win for the Beck-O’Grady team. Piece by piece and bit by bit, this duo has been dismantling infringements on the Second Amendment in Hawaii. This victory comes as Second Amendment advocates and activists are anticipating another big win from Beck. The Wolford case was litigated earlier this year at the U.S. Supreme Court and deals with the so-called “vampire rule.” An opinion in Wolford should be coming within the next two months.

Editor’s Note: Advocates like Beck and O’Grady are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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