The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, reversed a lower-court injunction on September 22, 2026, and restored two of Hawaii's tightest post-Bruen hurdles for lawful firearm buyers. In No. 21-16756, the court held that Hawaii's 30-day firearm-acquisition permit window and a required police-station inspection of certain newly obtained handguns are presumptively lawful shall-issue conditions.
The ruling revives existing state conditions that a lower court had blocked. Lawful purchasers again face a 30-day firearm-acquisition permit window. Certain newly obtained handguns must again be taken to a police station for inspection. Those two requirements are back in force as shall-issue conditions in the Ninth Circuit.
A shall-issue label is not the Second Amendment. It is a description of a state permitting process. The en banc court placed Hawaii's deadline and inspection inside the category of presumptively lawful shall-issue conditions and lifted the injunction that had kept them from being enforced against people who sought only to complete a lawful acquisition.
The burden is concrete. A 30-day window is a deadline on acquisition. A police-station inspection is a mandatory presentation of certain newly obtained handguns. Neither requirement is found in the Constitution. Both now stand restored for lawful buyers in Hawaii after the en banc reversal.
Post-Bruen, states have used shall-issue framing to keep tight licensing conditions in place. This decision accepts that framing for Hawaii's permit window and inspection mandate. The Constitution still outranks those statutes. A presumptively lawful condition is still a condition, and it still sits below the right it regulates.
Federal judges swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a state permit calendar and not to a police-station inspection protocol. The right to keep and bear arms is a pre-existing right. Hawaii's 30-day firearm-acquisition window and its inspection mandate are state procedures. When procedure delays the right, the oath still runs to the higher law.
The injunction is reversed, and the two challenged hurdles are again enforceable. Further review remains available. Until a higher court acts, lawful buyers in Hawaii must again meet the 30-day firearm-acquisition permit window and, for certain newly obtained handguns, a police-station inspection before the state treats the right as complete.