PAGV Filed Amicus Brief asking SCOTUS to Affirm Decision of Ninth Circuit, Allowing Default No-Carry Rule on Private Property Open to Public
Prosecutors Against Gun Violence (PAGV), led by Co-Chairs Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, today announced the filing of an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in Wolford v. Lopez, supporting Hawaii’s law that prohibits individuals from carrying firearms onto private property open to the public, such as malls and restaurants, unless the property owner consents. The brief urges the Court to uphold the law as constitutional, arguing that it reduces gun violence, protects the rights of private property owners, and reflects long-standing legal tradition.
The filing asks the Supreme Court to affirm a September 2024 ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the law.
PAGV Co-Chair Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., Manhattan District Attorney said, “Armed individuals in public retail spaces, such as shops, restaurants, and malls, pose a significant safety threat to workers, businesses owners and customers alike. Hawaii’s commonsense law curbs this threat of gun violence while appropriately balancing the rights of property owners. Furthermore, a presumptive ban of guns in retail areas will make it far easier for police to safely address and confront armed individuals, removing the burden from property owners. I urge the Supreme Court to uphold the law to keep these vital protections in place.”
PAGV Co-Chair Zach Klein, Columbus City Attorney said, “This law balances the rights of property owners with public safety. A ‘guns everywhere’ mentality doesn’t make us safer. It only pours more guns into our streets and into the hands of those who have no regard for the law or human life. It is imperative for the Supreme Court to uphold this commonsense law that makes our neighborhoods and businesses safer for everyone. As prosecutors and law enforcement, that’s something we should all be rallying behind.”
Prosecutors Against Gun Violence is an independent coalition of prosecutors from diverse jurisdictions throughout the United States. PAGV’s members enforce similar no-carry default rules across several states, including New York, California and Maryland. Drawing on that experience, the brief explains that default rules significantly help address gun violence throughout the U.S.
Guns in stores and restaurants increases the risk of violence, escalation of police encounters and interpersonal disputes, and harm to bystanders. As the brief notes, “in 2024, retail spaces suffered more gun-related incidents than any other kind of location, and restaurants suffered the third largest number of such incidents relative to other kinds of locations. Moreover, those gun-related incidents appear to result mostly from firearm-carrying customers, rather than robbers or other criminals.”
Hawaii’s law establishes the default assumption that if permission has not been granted, firearms are not allowed. The brief argues that this rule is constitutional and improves public safety. The Second Amendment does not specifically protect bringing firearms onto private property without consent. As the brief argues, “a person has no freestanding constitutional right to enter or remain on private property—let alone a right to do so armed with a deadly weapon,” and “a property owner has wide authority to exclude others from its property,” including the “unquestioned” right to exclude those who have firearms.
The brief argues that no-carry default rules like Hawaii’s “draw their historical lineage not from restrictions on gun ownership, but rather from a long tradition under both the common law and criminal law of enforcing private property owners’ preferences.”
The petitioners argue that “it is often impractical for owners to communicate their preferences to any and all strangers who happen to step inside the premises,” which jeopardizes the safety of customers and business owners. Conversely, “no-carry default rule lessens the burden on local businesses to communicate and enforce their desire to exclude guns, and it allows law enforcement like PAGV’s members to enforce those bans instead, thus sparing private property owners from having to assume the risks.”
No-carry default rules reflect local customs and expectations. Therefore, “in jurisdictions where most business owners already wish to ban firearms, a no-carry default rule will result in fewer deviations from the baseline, which can reduce the need for customers to make store-by-store determinations about whether guns are allowed.”
The brief argues that bypassing these local and state-level concerns is “startling” and “ignores not only reality, but also the long common-law and criminal-law tradition of respecting the actual views of those affected by private property regimes. Petitioners’ one-size-fits-all approach ignores this venerable tradition.”
Assistant District Attorneys John Hughes (Deputy Chief of the Appeals Division) and Brent Yarnell of the Manhattan D.A.’s Office prepared the amicus brief, under the supervision of Steven Wu (Chief of the Appeals Division) with assistance from Paralegal Brian Li (Appeals Division).
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PAGV is an independent coalition of prosecutors from diverse jurisdictions throughout the United States, working toward solutions to end gun violence. The group is co-chaired by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein, and brings together prosecutors to discuss policies, legislation, and strategies to help prevent and confront gun violence in their jurisdictions.
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