Hawaii: Two Anti-Gun Bills Enrolled to Governor- Your Urgent Action Needed!

From NRA-ILA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2016

This week, two anti-gun bills, House Bill 625 and Senate Bill 2954 were enrolled to the Governor for his consideration.  Additionally, final action may soon be taken on two other anti-gun bills, House Bill 2632 and Senate Bill 2647.

It is imperative that you contact the Governor, state Representatives and state Senators in opposition to these misguided bills! Please click the “Take Action” button to contact these legislators with your opposition!

HB 625- Yesterday, HB 625 was sent back to the House floor for reconsideration where the House agreed to the Senate amendments.  HB 625 will now go to Governor David Ige (D) for his consideration.  Please contact Governor Ige and urge him to veto this legislation!  HB 625 would expand prohibited possessors to include certain misdemeanor crimes.  Constitutional rights are generally restricted only upon conviction of a felony.  The reasons for this are two-fold.  It limits restrictions on constitutional rights to only the most serious offenses, and, perhaps more importantly, felony convictions provide greater procedural protections to the accused, which results in more reliable convictions.  The right to keep and bear arms should not be treated as a second-class right and should be restricted only upon conviction of a felony.

SB 2954- On Monday, SB 2954 passed final read in the Senate and will now go to Governor Ige for his consideration. Please contact Governor Ige and urge him to veto this legislation!  SB 2954 would expand the existing registration requirement and input law-abiding Hawaii gun owners into a federal biometric database, managed by the FBI, for continuous monitoring, and could be in violation of your Fourth Amendment rights.

HB 2632- Yesterday, the conference committee on HB 2632 recommended that the measure be passed with amendments.  HB 2632 will now go back to both the House and the Senate for a final agreement vote.  Please contact Hawaii state Representatives and Senators and strongly urge them to disagree with this bill!  HB 2632 would expand the list of possible prohibited possessors to include anyone who has undergone or is undergoing emergency hospitalization.

SB 2647- Yesterday, the Senate appointed conferees to the conference committee on SB 2647.  This bill has been scheduled for final decision making in the Senate to agree with the House amendments.  Please contact state Senators and urge them to disagree with the House amendments to this bill! SB 2647 would ban the sale, purchase, barter, and possession with intent to sell of any legally owned ivory (defined to include mammoth ivory), ivory product, rhinoceros horn, rhinoceros horn product and products from various other animal species, absent limited exceptions.

Once again, please click either “Take Action” button to contact the Governor, state Representatives and state Senators in opposition to these bill!