Newtown Action Alliance Condemns Supreme Court Decision Expanding Guns on Private Property
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 25, 2026
Contact:
info@newtownaction.org
Newtown Action Alliance Condemns Supreme Court Decision Expanding Guns on Private Property
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Newtown Action Alliance condemned today's U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Hawaii's law requiring individuals to obtain permission before carrying firearms onto private property open to the public. The ruling replaces permission with presumption, allowing people to carry firearms onto private property unless the owner has expressly prohibited them.
The decision is the latest in a series of rulings that elevate an extreme interpretation of the Second Amendment over private property rights, the authority of states to protect their residents, and the freedom of Americans to go about their daily lives without fear of gun violence.
"This Court continues to redefine freedom through the lens of the gun lobby," said Po Murray, Chairwoman of Newtown Action Alliance. "The burden should be on the person carrying the gun to obtain permission—not on every business owner to announce that firearms are unwelcome. This ruling turns private property rights upside down. Freedom means respecting a property owner's right to decide what enters their business while protecting everyone else's freedom from gun violence."
"The gun lobby has spent decades insisting that more guns mean more freedom. But every expansion of gun rights comes at the expense of everyone else's freedom—the freedom to shop, work, worship, learn, gather, and raise our families without wondering who around us is armed. Freedom from gun violence is the liberty Americans deserve."
Today's ruling is another consequence of the Supreme Court's misguided decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which have increasingly been used to invalidate reasonable gun violence prevention laws and undermine the ability of states to respond to the realities of modern gun violence.
Newtown Action Alliance calls on Congress to enact meaningful Supreme Court reforms that restore accountability, strengthen public trust, and create a Court that respects both constitutional rights and the government's responsibility to protect the public. Only a reformed Supreme Court can overturn the dangerous precedents established in Heller and expanded in Bruen, restoring the ability of elected leaders to enact evidence-based laws that save lives. No constitutional right is absolute, and no interpretation of the Constitution should strip Americans of their property rights or their freedom from gun violence.
"The freedom promised by our Constitution belongs to all of us—not just the person carrying the gun," Murray said. "For too long, this Supreme Court has expanded one person's gun rights at the expense of everyone else's freedoms. It's time to restore the freedom to live, work, worship, learn, and gather without fear. It's time to reclaim our freedom from gun violence."
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Newtown Action Alliance (www.newtownactionalliance.org) is a Newtown-based, national grassroots organization formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. Our mission is to achieve the steady and continuous reduction of gun violence through legislative and cultural changes.