Concealed Carry Law in MD Struck Down; Hawaii to Follow?

Eugene Volokh writes about a Federal District Court case in Maryland, Woollard v. Sheridan (D. Md. Mar. 2, 2012), which may well have an effect on Hawaii's concealed carry law.

Hawaii's law seems even more constrictive than Maryland's, which requires one to have “good and substantial” reason to be armed outside the home. Hawaii's says:

§134-9 Licenses to carry. (a) In an exceptional case, when an applicant shows reason to fear injury to the applicant's person or property, the chief of police of the appropriate county may grant a license to an applicant who is a citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years or more or to a duly accredited official representative of a foreign nation of the age of twenty-one years or more to carry a pistol or revolver and ammunition therefor concealed on the person within the county where the license is granted. Where the urgency or the need has been sufficiently indicated, the respective chief of police may grant to an applicant of good moral character who is a citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years or more, is engaged in the protection of life and property, and is not prohibited under section 134-7 from the ownership or possession of a firearm, a license to carry a pistol or revolver and ammunition therefor unconcealed on the person within the county where the license is granted. The chief of police of the appropriate county, or the chief's designated representative, shall perform an inquiry on an applicant by using the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, to include a check of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases where the applicant is not a citizen of the United States, before any determination to grant a license is made. Unless renewed, the license shall expire one year from the date of issue.

For minor additions, see here. In real life, there are apparently no concealed carry permits issued in Hawaii, except possibly to retired police - and they have to jump through a lot of hoops.

The Hawaii Defense Foundation has filed a suit against the law.