Gun Safety Testimony Needed By Oct 4th

ACTION REQUIRED

COMMENTS NEEDED BY
NOON, OCTOBER 4
TO KEEP OAHU’S GUN LAWS STRONG

HPD is soliciting comments from the public by noon October 4 regarding its proposed regulations resulting from the recent Supreme Court decision.

IT IS CRITICAL THAT HPD HEAR FROM AS MANY OF US AS POSSIBLE TO BOTH COUNTERACT THE GUN LOBBY AND STRENGTHEN THE PROPOSALS.

HPD has issued proposed regulations to implement the recent Supreme Court case requiring Hawaii, among other states, to allow the concealed carry of handguns. The proposed regulations are a good start, but they need improvement. HPD is soliciting comments from the public by noon, October 4. There is little doubt the gun rights groups will be inundating HPD with recommendations to loosen the proposed criteria. IT IS CRITICAL THAT HPD HEAR FROM AS MANY OF US AS POSSIBLE TO BOTH COUNTERACT THE GUN LOBBY AND STRENGTHEN THE PROPOSALS.

Comments should be emailed no later than October 4 at noon to: HPDLTC@honolulu.gov

Feel free to use the major points in Bold or go into more detail with the additional explanations provided.

Major points to emphasize in comments in order of priority:

Registration and Education
-At the time of registration, non-residents and residents need to acknowledge receipt of information about gun laws in Hawaii. Non-residents need to be informed that they will need a Hawaii license to carry if they wish to carry in public.

–Require immediate registration of weapons brought in to the state.by non-residents at the point of entry.

–Require tourists to Inform hotel that they have a gun upon checking in.

Proficiency
— it is essential that everyone who owns, uses, or carries a gun in Hawaii be trained in how to use it safely.  The proficiency requirements in the proposed regulations are inadequate.

Adopt the NY state approach:

1) 16 hours of in-person live classroom instruction conducted by a Duly Authorized Instructor.
2) 80% score on a written test
3) 2-hours of live-fire testing where the applicant able to hit 4/5 on target.

Mental health evaluation
— Mental health evaluations must be sufficiently robust to identify individuals who are not an acceptable risk to acquire, own, use, or carry a firearm
Strengthen mental health background checks for a both a permit to acquire and a license to carry. Applications should not be deemed “complete” for processing until all critical information is obtained.

Penalties
—The penalty for non-compliance with the regulations should be increased.

Revocation of the license for a year is not sufficient. If an individual is found to carry a concealed weapon without a license, the gun should be surrendered.

Insurance
—Require applicants to carry liability insurance.

The Supreme Court did allow localities to ban guns in “sensitive” places. The Honolulu City Council will be issuing an ordinance defining such areas in the not-too-distant future.  We will keep you posted. In general, guns can be banned in any facility on publicly owned land. As to private property, we will be encouraging a “default” position where the owner of the property must publicly affirm that firearms are allowed on the premises, as well as inclusion of venues where large number of people gather.

The legislative session will also be very active this year on gun related issues. Please sign up to submit testimony at https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/login/login.aspx. It’s a very user-friendly process. We get very little notice of when a bill will be heard in committee, but once you are registered you are able to submit comments in a few minutes.

—————————————————Want more information?

Join Indivisible Hawaii for an information session 5-6pm, Thursday, September 29th.
Zoom link below.

Indivisible Hawaii is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

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