CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Hawaii Uses State’s Royal History to Justify Ban on Carrying Guns in Most of the State.

“Hawai‘i’s unique history—including its long pre-statehood existence as an independent kingdom—means that its residents never developed a practice of bringing guns into shops, convenience stores, and the like,” state Attorney General Anne Lopez wrote in a brief filed with the Supreme Court in December.

Alan Beck, a San Diego-based attorney who is representing the plaintiffs, says bringing the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom into the argument is invalid.

“What they’re really arguing is that the rights of my clients, who are U.S. citizens, should be dictated by the laws of a monarchy,” he said. “That’s not a position that’s really tenable.”

“No kings,” they told me.