HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued the following statement Thursday following the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS) decision in Wolford v. Lopez Attorney General Knudsen has led multiple amicus brief in support of support of three residents and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition in their lawsuit since 2023.

“This decision is a victory for all law-abiding gun owners in this country. Hawaii tried to use the ‘spirit of Aloha’ to make it nearly impossible for anyone to carry a gun in a public place, a violation of the Second Amendment. Today, the Supreme Court rightly overturned the unconstitutional law. Montanans’ rights do not end at the state’s border and today’s decision confirmed that.” 

The Hawaiian government wrongly enacted a law prohibiting the carry or possession of firearms in designated “sensitive” places, including bars and restaurants serving alcohol, parks and beaches, banks and financial institutions, and other areas. Additionally, Hawaii’s now unconstitutional “default rule” severely and purposefully narrows the public’s right to carry by flipping the long-held presumption that a citizen could enter a business open to the public with a firearm unless told otherwise by the owner.

Attorney General Knudsen led three different amicus briefs in this case. In 2023 he asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to not overturn a District Court ruling, in May 2025 he asked SCOTUS to intervene in the case, and in November 2025 he filed a brief supporting the plaintiffs Supreme Court case.