1 independent outlets are covering this story. Verification: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated. Patriot Watch links to original reporting; we don't republish it.
The Trump Department of Justice is backing a legal challenge regarding the carrying of guns in churches. The case centers on the rights of citizens to carry firearms in places of worship.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 3 hr ago, when WND reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 3 hr ago from WND. Verification tier: Watching — single-source — not yet independently corroborated.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Under Heller, prohibitions on carrying in sensitive places remain presumptively lawful, so a church-carry ban turns on whether churches qualify as sensitive places. Bruen requires the government to show the ban fits the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Wolford recognized a default right of entry onto private property open to the public for those lawfully carrying, which may bear on churches welcoming the public.
District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
Jason Wolford v. Anne E. Lopez, Attorney General of Hawaii 609 U.S. ___ (2026) (slip op.); U.S. Reports page not yet assigned
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Alito
Hawaii's law (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 134-9.5(a) (2023)) prohibiting licensed concealed-carry permit holders from carrying handguns on private property open to the public without the owner's express authorization violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. The decision restores the common-law default: a person lawfully carrying enjoys the implied license to enter property held open to the public unless the owner withdraws consent — a State may not flip that default to require express permission.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
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