The following is a transcript from the Pro America Report.
Welcome. Welcome to the Pro America Report. This is Ryan Hite guest hosting today for Mr. Ed Martin. Well partially guest hosting.
We’ve got a couple of Great interviews ahead that Ed was able to lock in and pre record for us. Actually it is. I’m going to be honest. It’s one interview. So you’re gonna want to stick around for it. One giant interview with J. Michael Waller. Very, very interesting. One that I think we’re going to all benefit from. He’s a senior analyst for the strategy or excuse me, the senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy. He’s got a new book, Big Intel: How the CIA and FBI went from Cold War Heroes to Deep State Villains. It is fascinating. Knew there was no way it would be able to work in one segment. So we got that lined up for two and. And actually he’s going to be on twice here today. So you’re going to stick around for that. And of course, we will come back around to the wrap up, got a couple of interesting things to talk about.
But before we get to that, we will dive into the WYNK. What you need to know, and before we get to that, let me remind you to go over to proamericareport.com. Proamericareport.com. There you will find Ed’s substack what he is writing on a lot of good long form things and of course go to phyllisschlafly.com where you will find the archives of this program. All of the podcast files, the standalone guests and segments and all the notes and links and resources and everything else. And of course that is where you can sign up for the daily WYNK e-mail the one that will hit your inbox 8:00 AM Eastern, 7 Central and all the other time zones corresponding you will get a few links what you need to know for the day and a couple of other little goodies. I guarantee it will be a good addition to your morning routine. Appreciate all of you who are already on that list. Glad that you are signed up and getting the WYNK Every single weekday. But if not. You get it now, and that’s what we’re going to dive into and talk about.
There is something big brewing, actually. There’s a couple of big things brewing and I’m glad to be able to come and talk about them today. What is happening though, and what we’re focusing on is a new, very interesting constitutional challenge.
Now, of course, last week we talked about Texas quite a bit. That’s being. Set up as a constitutional challenge between the state of Texas and the federal government over the border crisis there. Of course it is a constitutional issue. The federal government has abandoned its job. They are not enforcing border laws, they are not. The Biden administration is not doing its due diligence, not fulfilling its responsibility to protect Our national borders to protect our sovereignty. So Texas stood up and said, all right, we’re going to stand up for ourselves. We will defend ourselves. We will defend the Texas citizenry. Since the federal government is not going to. So they’ve been doing that for several months now and this has come to a head, but.
Another state has decided to take upon itself to say that the federal government is wrong or not doing its job. But this one’s a little bit of a different story. So let’s let’s dive into it here.
Hawaii, in case you haven’t seen it, Hawaii, the Supreme Court of Hawaii, has ruled that a man can be prosecuted for carrying a gun in public without a permit. In the state, this is overturning a lower court ruling that would have concluded that his rights had been violated under the Second Amendment. Now, here’s here’s what happened. Let me back up and give you a little bit of background.
Christopher Wilson was charged with keeping a firearm in an improper place and keeping ammunition in an improper place after he was arrested on December 7, 2017, so this has been a few years in brewing. He was found in possession of a handgun. It was loaded with a10 round magazine, which I think is all according to Hawaii restrictions, but. He insisted he was carrying this for self-defense, but he did not have the permit required by state law. So this has been going on for some time, but Wilson’s legal team has recently moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that they violated. Remember, he was arrested in 2017, but now his legal team has argued that this violates the charges against him, violate the Second Amendment, in context, now, of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association versus Bruen.
Now the Bruen decision went a lot farther. We talked in the in the constitutional world, especially in the Second Amendment world. We talked a lot about DC V. Heller. That the Heller case is regarding the state of or I should say the District of Columbia, and handguns. That was a big landmark, one that did set down a very big it It carved out a very big space. The Supreme Court did at that point to say that you may use common use weapons that that you do have the the individual right. Of self-defense. That is what that applies to. It’s not this collective, right. It’s an individual right. So that has been established already. Bruen however. Ever went quite a bit further. Bruen actually talked about how gun legislation must take into account, historical context and all sorts of things. And it really set a higher standard. It presumes that the Second Amendment, the plain text of the 2nd amendment. Is as it is. It covers the individual’s conduct so that it’s really good. In fact that’s, that’s actually a phrase that came down in the Bruen decision that I I think that let me see. I had this pulled up. The Supreme Court said in the 2022 Bruen, yeah, there it is. That we hold and and here. Well, by the way, let me let me say these two things that in Heller, which I just mentioned, one of the clips that came out of that in the in the majority opinion, citing, there seems to us no doubt on the basis of both text and history that the Second Amendment conferred an individual right to keep and bear arms.
Now in Bruen, it went even further. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled that the 2nd and 14th Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home, and then they went further, they said. We also, we hold that when the 2nd amendment’s Plain text covers an individual’s conduct. The Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. To justify its regulation referring to gun regulations from the government, the government, continuing quote from Bruen, may not simply pause it, but the regulation promotes an important interest. Rather, the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only if a firearm regulation is consistent. With this nation’s historical tradition, may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the 2nd amendment’s unqualified command.
So Bruen pardon me, by the way, I got a little tickle in my throat. Bruen went much farther than Heller. Bruen, definitely. The Bruen decision from the Supreme Court of the United States set up a very, very good and clear test that really challenges some of what we would call burdensome and unconstitutional gun regulations at the state level.
And Hawaii is certainly one of the hallmarks of. Of those blue states with huge gun regulations. So. Here’s what has gone on.
The Hawaii Supreme Court has reversed this lower court decision that found these charges against Christopher Wilson for carrying a gun without a permit. They reversed the lower court decision that said arresting and charging him violated his rights. Instead, the Supreme Court of Hawaii has ruled that. Its state constitution provides NO gun rights protections whatsoever.
None.
Esentially. The state of Hawaii. Their Supreme Court has said no, no Second Amendment here, that one doesn’t count. This is a huge deal. Now make no mistake, the short version of what I think is going on here is and and likely this will be challenged. This will go probably up to the Supreme Court of the United States and I imagine it will be struck down because on its face it it just doesn’t work. I mean this is. This is incredible. That, that, that they’ve actually said this. So I imagine this is going to continue and this will be struck down is is my guess.
However that really depends and this whole conversation we had the mini plug for the unauthorized caucus live stream program on Thursdays. This is a whole conversation. We had a little while ago.
But does this depend on who the enforcement agent is. If the Supreme Court of the United States. That’s Hawaii. Yeah. You can’t do that. So. So what? Hawaii says make me. Well, if you know the Biden administration or the Harris administration or someone like that gets reelected this year, you know, heaven forbid. Well, who’s going to make them? Because they’re certainly going to be on Hawaii’s side politically when it comes to this stuff. So this is very interesting.
But that’s, yeah, this is very it’s it’s kind of shocking. And this is the the case, Hawaii V Wilson. In fact, from the from the opinion here in Hawaii V Wilson, the Hawaiian Supreme Court says Article one, section 17 of the Hawaii Constitution. Mirrors the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. We read those words differently than the current United States Supreme Court. We hold that in Hawaii, there is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public. That is shocking, and it is antithetical to everything encompassed in our Second Amendment and our fundamental right to self-defense. Typically with a firearm that this is referring to that we have and have always had here in the United States of America, this is incredible.
Now, as much as I expect this to get shot down, no pun intended, that’s that’s just gonna go. My choice of words. But as much as I expect this to get overturned, this is incredibly shocking. That’s what you need. This is what you need to know.
That the the the state of Hawaii has challenged the Constitution itself. I probably should have run with that exact phrasing upfront. But I mean, that’s that is the what you need to know.
The state of Hawaii has challenged the Constitution itself. We are no longer in an era of. Of of subtlety, when it comes to opposing the Constitution. Now you and I could argue it has we we’ve, the left Has long thrown. Subtlety to the wayside, but this is this Is a whole new thing.
We we read those words differently than the current US Supreme Court. There is no state constitutional right to carry a firearm in public. In the state of Hawaii.
Wow. Absolutely. Wow, that’s what you need to know today, we’re going to keep following this, and I’ve actually got another thing we want to talk about at the wrap up. But that’s why you should come on back.
Don’t forget. Go to proamericareport.com, go to phyllisschlafly.com, pick up all the goodies there. Come on back here after the break to the Pro America Report. We got a great guest on the other side. You won’t want to miss it. Thank you for being here today and thank you for letting the guest host. We will see you back in just a moment here on the Pro America Report.
