Ninth Circuit Upholds Hawaii Handgun Permit Rules, 6-5

Last updated September 2026 · By Nick Hall, read all 84 pages of the en banc opinion and its three dissents

Quick take: The full Ninth Circuit voted 6-5 on September 22 to uphold two Hawaii handgun rules: the 30-day expiration on a permit to acquire a pistol and a police-station inspection for certain newly acquired guns. The ruling reverses a 2021 injunction that had blocked both.

• Ruling: The en banc court held that Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-2(e) and 134-3 comply with the Second Amendment and reversed the permanent injunction against them.
• Court: Judge John B. Owens wrote for a six-judge majority, and Judges Ryan D. Nelson, Danielle J. Forrest and Lawrence VanDyke each filed dissents.
• Why it matters: The majority read Bruen’s footnote 9 as making objective shall-issue licensing rules presumptively lawful unless a challenger proves they are abusive.
• What’s next: The case returns to the District of Hawaii, and the plaintiffs have 90 days to ask the Supreme Court to take it.

Most Bruen-era licensing fights are about who gets a permit at all. This one is about what happens after you have it: a deadline to use it and a trip to the police station once the gun is home. The full Ninth Circuit just said both rules stand, by one vote.

Table of Contents

The Two Hawaii Handgun Permit Rules on Trial

Hawaii is a shall-issue state for permits to acquire firearms, and the challengers didn’t attack the basics. Fingerprints, Social Security number and mental health history requirements were never part of the case. They went after two rules the court itself calls unique.

The first is Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-2(e): "Permits issued to acquire any pistol or revolver shall be void unless used within thirty days after the date of issue." Miss the window and you start the application over. The version the plaintiffs originally sued over gave buyers just 10 days.

The second is 134-3. After you get the gun, you fill out a form with its caliber, serial number and manufacturer, and for some guns you bring the firearm to a police station for inspection. After amendments during the case, the inspection covers private-party transfers, certain self-made or 3D-printed guns, and guns brought into Hawaii from another jurisdiction.

For the full permit-to-acquire process, our Hawaii gun laws guide walks through it step by step.

How Yukutake v. Lopez Got to the Full Court

Todd Yukutake and David Kikukawa, both of Honolulu County, brought the case in 2019. Yukutake got a handgun permit, couldn’t complete the purchase inside the window, and had to apply again.

In August 2021, District Judge J. Michael Seabright granted them summary judgment under the intermediate scrutiny test the Ninth Circuit used at the time, and permanently enjoined both rules. Nine months later, the Supreme Court decided Bruen and threw that test out.

A divided three-judge panel affirmed in 2025. Then the court took the case en banc, heard argument on March 24, 2026 in Pasadena, and reversed. The en banc opinion, case 21-16756, was filed September 22.

Bruen Footnote 9 Is the Whole Ballgame

Footnote 9 of Bruen says objective shall-issue licensing systems are presumptively constitutional unless they are "put toward abusive ends," through things like lengthy delays or exorbitant fees. Judge Owens used that as the test and skipped the search for historical analogues.

The plaintiffs had to show abuse, and the majority said they didn’t: "At most, the provisions impose only modest, procedural burdens." A 30-day deadline and a short visit to the police station, in the majority’s view, do not materially impede anyone from acquiring a gun.

The majority modeled its approach on the Fifth Circuit’s McRorey decision, which upheld the extended background check for buyers under 21 without a deep dive into history. The timing is odd. Four days earlier, a Fifth Circuit panel called McRorey inapposite to the federal ban on interstate handgun sales, because McRorey involved a waiting period of definite length.

Owens was candid about the uncertainty in the law: "Hopefully, the Supreme Court will make clear which analysis it thinks is correct."

What the Three Dissents Argued

Judge R. Nelson, joined by Judges Bress and VanDyke, and by Judges Bade and Forrest except for one part, said footnote 9 is not a carve-out or safe harbor from Bruen at all. Under the normal test, he wrote, the plain text covers acquiring arms, and Hawaii identified no representative historical analogue for a short permit window or an inspection tied to acquisition.

Judge Forrest would have affirmed on the merits and told the district court to narrow the injunction to the two plaintiffs, citing the Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Trump v. CASA.

Judge VanDyke proposed two bright-line rules. If a gun or a use of guns is prevalent nationwide, a state can’t ban it, and if a state has a regulation most other states don’t, it should be unconstitutional. Under that second rule, he would strike Hawaii’s provisions as outliers.

Count the names and you get the vote. Six in the majority. Five dissenting.

What Happens Next in Hawaii

The en banc court reversed and remanded, so the case goes back to the federal district court in Hawaii. The reversal takes effect when the Ninth Circuit issues its mandate.

The plaintiffs’ realistic next move is a cert petition, due within 90 days of the judgment under Supreme Court Rule 13. With the Ninth Circuit majority openly asking the Supreme Court to settle footnote 9, and the dissents laying out the opposite reading in detail, the petition would arrive with the question already framed for the Justices.

For Hawaii buyers, once the mandate issues, plan around the 30-day clock: get the permit, have the gun lined up, and finish the purchase inside the window. The ruling also binds federal courts across the Ninth Circuit, which includes California, where a Ninth Circuit panel ruled last month that dealers must keep filming customers.

Six to five, on a footnote. That’s how close this was.

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