Hawaii Acts of the 2022 Legislative Session
HB 2075, Act 30
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO FIREARMS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
The legislature further finds that Hawai'i's laws have led to Hawai'i being a national leader in low rates of gun violence incidents. Whereas nationwide there are annually more than thirty thousand deaths related to gun violence, in Hawai'i there are less than fifty gun violence deaths per year at a rate of less than five gun deaths per every one hundred thousand people. Hawai'i cumulatively ranks number one as the state with the lowest number of deaths and the lowest rate of deaths due to gun violence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annual statistics, Hawai'i had the lowest number of deaths and lowest death rate attributed to gun violence in 2020. In 2019, Hawai'i had the second lowest number of deaths and the fourth lowest death rate. In 2018, it had the second lowest deaths and third lowest death rate; in 2017, the lowest deaths and lowest death rate; in 2016, the second lowest deaths and fourth lowest death rate; in 2015, the second lowest deaths and second lowest death rate; and in 2014, the second lowest deaths and lowest death rate.
The legislature recognizes that the ruling by the United States District Court for the District of Hawai'i in Yukutake v. Connors, 554 F.Supp.3d 1074 (D. Haw. 2021), invalidated the State's ten-day expiration period for a permit to acquire a pistol or revolver and the requirement that all firearms be physically inspected at the time of registration. While the State's appeal is pending, the law related to the ten-day permit expiration period continues to be in effect as the court stayed its holding, whereas the physical inspection requirement was not stayed and thus its enforcement is suspended.
The legislature finds that the laws discussed in Yukutake furthered the important government interest of public safety and in a manner that is substantially related to that interest. The legislature supports efforts to appeal the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the meantime, the legislature cannot allow for all firearms to be registered without inspection. Even if the Yukutake ruling is upheld, Hawai'i's important interest in protecting public safety justifies the physical inspection of certain narrow categories of firearms at the time of registration. This interest is also based on the extensive knowledge and experience of the Hawai'i law enforcement community and legislature regarding registration requirements, including serial numbers, from the time these requirements were originally adopted in Hawai'i in the early twentieth century, e.g., via Act 85, Session Laws of the Territory of Hawaii 1907.
The legislature also finds that around the time of the Second Amendment's ratification in 1791, and in the decades preceding, laws requiring inspection of personal weapons existed at the federal level and throughout the original states. These laws were part of militia requirements, which mandated that individuals subject to militia duty -- typically white men in a specified age range -- must acquire their own arms and ammunition. The laws described the weapons required and provided for regular inspection by militia officers. Yukutake, 554 F.Supp.3d at 1087. The historical tradition of requiring in-person inspection of firearms...
