Gov. David Ige signed a gun control bill into law Friday, although it largely only reinstates a law that was suspended by a lawsuit last year.
House Bill 2075, now encoded into law as Act 30, reinstates certain firearm inspection requirements that were nullified by a 2021 U.S. District Court Case, Yukutake v. Connors.
That case, involving a pair of plaintiffs on Oahu, found that two Hawaii laws violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by requiring that people who acquire a firearm physically bring the weapon to the police department for in-person inspection and registration within five days of acquisition. The court found that law unconstitutional, suspending that requirement.
Although the state is appealing that ruling, the law remains suspended. In its place, however, is Act 30, which imposes similar inspection requirements on certain firearms until 2025, when it will be repealed.
Sen. Karl Rhoads, an Oahu Democrat said during the signing ceremony Friday that the suspended laws require the inspection of all firearms upon registration, which he said is “a better rule than what’s in (Act 30).” Instead, Act 30 requires that only guns without serial numbers — known colloquially as “ghost guns” — plus guns brought in from out of state and guns transferred between private individuals be inspected within five days.
Those three categories of firearms are considered by the state’s police chiefs to be top concerns to public safety, Ige said.
“My hope is that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals … will realize that our current gun laws are better, more protective and make our citizens safer, but in the meantime, while that case is going forward we can’t afford to not have any inspections of any gun,” Rhoads said.
Ige said that the signing of the bill is part of a response to a sharp uptick in gun violence over the last several weeks, including the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 students and two teachers dead, the May 14 mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed 10 people, allegedly by a self-described white supremacist, and the June 1 shooting at a hospital in Tulsa, Okla., that killed four people.
Ige also signed a proclamation Friday declaring June 3 National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.