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Electronically Filed
Supreme Court
SCAP-XX-XXXXXXX
08-MAR-2024
11:02 AM
Dkt. 9 SO
SCAP-XX-XXXXXXX
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF HAWAIʻI
STATE OF HAWAIʻI,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
vs.
MICHAEL ELEFANTE,
Defendant-Appellee.
APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SECOND CIRCUIT
(CAAP-XX-XXXXXXX; CASE NO. 2CPC-XX-XXXXXXX)
SUMMARY DISPOSITION ORDER
(By: Recktenwald, C.J., McKenna, and Eddins, JJ., Circuit Judge Tonaki
and Circuit Judge Morikawa, assigned by reason of vacancies)
On May 12, 2020, Michael Elefante checked himself into the
hospital. A nurse inventoried his belongings. Inside his
backpack, she found a loaded pistol. The hospital called the
police.
Elefante lacked a license to carry a weapon pursuant to
Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes (HRS) § 134-9 (2011).
On April 12, 2022, the County of Maui Department of the
Prosecuting Attorney charged Elefante with one “place to keep”
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offense in violation of HRS § 134-25 (2011).
In September 2022, Elefante moved to dismiss. He
maintained that the Second Amendment to the United States
Constitution, as newly imagined by New York State Rifle & Pistol
Ass’n v. Bruen,
(2022), provided a right to bear arms
in public for possible self-defense. Article I, section 17 of
the Hawaiʻi Constitution, too, he claimed.
Circuit Court of the Second Circuit Judge Kelsey T. Kawano
agreed with Elefante, dismissing his case.
The State appealed. It said Elefante lacked standing to
challenge the constitutionality of HRS § 134-9 – Hawaiʻi’s
license to carry law - because he didn’t bother to ask for a
license.
In October 2023, Elefante applied for transfer to this
court. He said the case raises “essentially the same issues” as
State v. Wilson, then pending before us. Now decided. State v.
Wilson, ___ P.3d ___,
2024 WL 466105
(Haw. 2024).
We granted transfer.
We resolve this case the same way as Wilson. There, the
defendant chose not to seek a license to carry, so he lacked
standing to challenge Hawaiʻi’s license-to-carry law, HRS § 134-
9. Id. at *4. Like Wilson, Elefante did not try to get a
license. Therefore, he lacks standing to challenge HRS § 134-9.
Elefante has standing to challenge the law he was charged
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with violating, HRS § 134-25. See id. at *3. Wilson examined
whether HRS § 134-25 conforms to article I, section 17 of the
Hawaiʻi Constitution. This court concluded that article I,
section 17 confers a collective, militia-based right to bear
arms. Id. at *7. Not an individual right to carry weapons in
public for possible self-defense. Id. Thus, HRS § 134-25 does
not violate the Hawaiʻi Constitution.
Wilson also held that HRS § 134-25 does not violate the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. at *20.
Under Bruen, “[s]tates retain the authority to require that
individuals have a license before carrying firearms in public.”
Id.; Bruen,
(Kavanaugh, J. concurring).
That’s what HRS § 134-25 does.
Accordingly, we conclude that HRS § 134-25 does not violate
Elefante’s rights under the Hawaiʻi or U.S. Constitutions. We
hold that the circuit court erred by granting Elefante’s motion
to dismiss. We vacate the circuit court’s order and remand the
case for further proceedings.
DATED: Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, March 8, 2024.
Richard B. Rost /s/ Mark E. Recktenwald
for appellant
/s/ Sabrina S. McKenna
Henry P. Ting
/s/ Todd W. Eddins
for appellee
/s/ John M. Tonaki
/s/ Trish K. Morikawa
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