HIFICO Legislative Update Webinar
by Todd Yukutake, Director, Hawaii Firearms Coalition
This will be a historic year with many bad changes to Hawaii's gun laws. Honolulu Mayor Blangiardi is expected to sign Bill 57 any day now with CCW sensitive places bans taking effect on May 1st. Essentially banning CCW at most places to the point where you're allowed to carry on the sidewalk. This will be expanded statewide as HB984/SB1230 is likely to become law this summer along with HB426 firearms industry. These are all the gun bills remaining for the year as all the others have died.
The hunting bills continue to advance concerning game meat inspection, game meat donations, animal fur ban, and written permission for hunting guides.
LINK: Bill Tracker
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2A Legislative Update Webinar 7-28-23 7:30pm
Join us as we discuss the current state of the 2nd Amendment in Hawaii. Honolulu is about to join Hawaii County in passing a "Sensitive Places" CCW locations ban. The State Legislature is on the verge of passing HB984/SB1230 which will enact firearms restrictions statewide to include CCW bans, permit to acquire changes, character and temperament approval standards, and host of new firearms confiscations.
Watch it on
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HB984/SB1230 - CCW, Permit to Acquire, Prohibited Persons
These bills will have a severe impact on many aspects of firearms ownership. HB984 was copied into the previously slightly milder SB1230, so they are almost the same now. This bill will likely pass and become law this summer with a tentative start date of July 1st. Besides the sensitive places CCW ban statewide, this bill will:
1. Everyone will need to retake their firearms safety training to acquire a handgun. Hunters ed would no longer apply to handgun permits. The training class expires after four years, instructors need to be approved by PD to give the class, and there is additional content required in the course. The good news is other instructor certifications like USCCA might be accepted.
2. Long gun permit to acquire training now requires training, either a firearms safety course, hunters ed, military training, etc. The training is valid for four years.
3. There may be a time period when people will be unable to purchase a handgun, starting on the expected July 1st implementation date. Policies, procedures, forms, instructor approvals may not be ready in time. For example, Honolulu PD's Rule 57 CCW changes took 3-4 months to go through the public review process. Other counties didn't go through the same process, but they
4. Recent firearms safety/CCW class & training may be invalid after July 1st. Pending applications might not be approved. Even if instructors added in the required extra content into their class now, instructors would not be approved by PD's under the new law and PD's have some discretion to add extra training requirements.
5. Permit to acquire may take longer than the current 14 days. This bill extends the approval period from 20 days to 40 days. Police will need to gather references and conduct interviews. They will intrude into your life and go through your entire mental health history. They must judge an application through subjective standards based on "essential character and temperament" instead of the current black and white criminal convictions. If you're references say you get enraged or do reckless things, your permit could be denied.
6 Many of these requirements affect CCW applications too. One of the bright sides is a 4 year statewide CCW license change.
7. Newly prohibited persons - Person's with a harassment, reckless endangering, or ANY gun crime convictions will be prohibited from touching firearms. They will need to transfer their firearms to other persons, sell them, or turn them into the police. The good news is that non-felony convictions will not apply to firearms prohibitions anymore except for Federal prohibitions.
There will no doubt be legal action against this new law. However legal action can take years to settle and we have to live with these infringements in the meantime. There is a good chance the US Supreme Court will take up the New York lawsuit next year which should clear up many of these restrictions fairly quickly. However other restrictions will have to go through the entire legal process and take years to settle. Some others will stay in place.
I'm trying to get the implementation date pushed back a few months so that there will be no interruption of permits and licenses. If you plan on buying a gun, do it now. If you took a CCW course or testing recently, apply for your license quickly as I'm not sure if pending applications under the current law will be honored after July 1st.
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HB426 - Firearms Industry
This bill will result in Hawaii firearm stores, gunsmiths, and manufacturers getting sued due to criminal use of their legally sold firearm products. This bill continues to advance through the legislature and is likely to pass. This will be a difficult law to overturn in a lawsuit and it will cost a lot of money to litigate, and in the end you may have to live with it. Review your marketing and sales practices. For example, taking ammunition off the customer shelves and putting it behind the counter to stop shoplifting. You can be 100% right, however people will still sue and it'll cost you legal fees.
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Opposition Testimony needed for hearings
Written testimony only, no oral or remote testimony will be taken at the hearing. You can talk to the committee members prior to the hearing if you wish.
I recommend firearms industry members submit written testimony typed with your business letterhead and to talk to each JDC committee member prior to the hearing.
--HB426 Firearm Industry: Text, Status
Senate Judiciary(JDC) hearing 3-30-23 9:35am room 016
--HB984 Sensitive Places, CCW, Permit to Acquire: Text, Status
Senate Judiciary(JDC) hearing 3-31-23 10am room 016
NRA-ILA: Hawaii: Senate Judiciary Committee Holding Decision Making Hearings on Anti-Gun Bills