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- Supreme Court invalidates Hawaii law on guns in publicly accessible private property
- Spyware firm Intellexa linked to journalist hacking in talks with UK officials
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- Eylon Levy asserts Israeli campaign enables Lebanon to challenge Hezbollah
- Russia Launches Fresh Missile Strikes Against Ukraine Amid Conflict Escalation
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Get you up to speed: Supreme Court strikes down Hawaii law restricting guns on private property that’s open to public
The Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii law that restricted concealed-carry permit holders from bringing firearms onto private property open to the public in a 6 to 3 decision in the case Wolford v. Lopez. The ruling upheld the argument made by a group of gun owners and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, affirming that the restriction violated the Second Amendment.
The Supreme Court’s ruling follows a legal dispute initiated in 2023, when three residents and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition challenged the state’s carry restrictions. Hawaii’s law, described as the “vampire rule,” was enacted after the Court’s 2022 landmark decision on gun rights, and currently stands alongside similar laws in only four other states.
Hawaii’s government has signalled its intention to review its firearm regulations in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, which invalidated the state’s “vampire rule” restricting concealed-carry permit holders. The decision is expected to prompt legislative changes, as Hawaii navigates its remaining firearm restrictions, particularly those in sensitive locations such as schools and government buildings.
What remains unclear — It is not specified how the Supreme Court’s ruling will affect the enforcement of other existing firearms restrictions in Hawaii.
Supreme Court invalidates Hawaii law on guns in publicly accessible private property
Washington — The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Hawaii restriction that prohibits concealed-carry permit holders from bringing their firearms onto private property that is open to the public.
In a 6 to 3 decision in the case Wolford v. Lopez, the high court sided with a group of gun owners and a gun-rights group who argued that Hawaii’s rule restricting where they could carry firearms violates the Second Amendment.
The justices found unconstitutional the Hawaii law requiring people with concealed-carry permits to receive permission before bringing their guns onto private property that is open to the public — places like gas stations, restaurants or shops.
The ruling in favor of the gun owners follows the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in which the high court recognized for the first time that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to carry a firearm outside the home.
That decision laid out a new framework for courts to apply when determining the constitutionality of a gun restriction, which requires the government to show that a measure is rooted in the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. The first test of that new standard came in 2024, when the Supreme Court upheld a federal law barring people subject to domestic violence restraining orders from having guns.
The high court said last week in a case involving a federal firearms restriction that the government cannot automatically disarm people who regularly use marijuana and are not dangerous.
The Supreme Court’s ruling does not impact Hawaii’s other restrictions on guns in places like bars, beaches or parks, which were not at issue in the case, or sensitive locations like schools or government buildings.
Hawaii’s law, which has been dubbed the “vampire rule,” requires armed concealed-carry permit holders to seek permission before entering private property that is open to the public. Carrying a gun without that permission is a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to one year in prison.
Hawaii is one of five states with laws presumptively restricting carry by license-holders on private property, though similar measures in New York, California and Maryland have been blocked by courts. In the remaining 45 states, licensed handgun owners can generally carry arms onto publicly-accessible private property.
The limits on the places people in Hawaii could bring their firearms were signed into law following the Supreme Court’s 2022 landmark gun rights decision.
The dispute before the Supreme Court dates back to 2023, when three Maui County residents and the Hawaii Firearms Coalition challenged the state’s default rule as a violation of the Second Amendment. A federal district court sided with the challengers, finding Hawaii’s restriction likely violates the Second Amendment as applied to property that is accessible to the public.
But after the state appealed, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld Hawaii’s law.
The Trump administration backed the gun owners in the case and argued that the measure was “blatantly unconstitutional” and effectively prevented public carry, as any armed permit holder risked committing a crime simply by stopping to put gas in their car or running errands at a grocery store.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in January and appeared likely to side with the gun owners.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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