State v. Elefante

544 P.3d 134, 154 Haw. 44

• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court
• Decided: March 8, 2024
• Docket: SCAP-23-0000053
• Status: Published

Opinion

*** NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER ***

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Prosecuting Attorney charged Elefante with one “place to keep” *** NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER ***

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, 597 U.S. 1 (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

2 *** NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAI‘I REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER ***

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, 597 U.S. at 79-80 (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