This week, Hawaii Gov. David Ige chose not to sign nor veto two gun-control bills, one that expands the state’s registration requirement and another that prohibits unserialized gun parts and kits.
As a result of Ige’s inaction, or cowardice depending on how you view it, the bills take effect anyhow and are now law. A quick snapshot of the laws courtesy of NRA-ILA:
- House Bill 2744 places severe restrictions on certain firearm parts in an effort to ban home built firearms. The language is vague and overly broad, with felony penalties for violations. It fails to recognize that prohibited persons cannot lawfully possess any firearm, whether home built or produced by a licensed manufacturer. Additionally, the bill uses your tax dollars to create a commission to research “gun violence.” While the NRA does not oppose objective research, this will produce biased advocacy instead of sound science.
- Senate Bill 3054 SD 2 requires notice of permanent removal of a firearm outside the state, with the registering county, within five days. A penalty of $100 per firearm will be assessed for non-compliance.
In summation, the legislature enacted two bills that will do virtually nothing to reduce violent crime.
Requiring law-abiding citizens to serialize gun parts and kits will not impel criminals to do the same. Likewise, criminals do not register guns to begin with so the expectation that they’ll notify the state if/when they move the firearms out of the state is completely laughable.
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Furthermore, the creation of a panel to study “gun violence” is a complete waste of money because we already know the people that are responsible for the overwhelming majority of it: gang members, drug dealers, violent addicts, domestic abusers, mental defectives, fugitives from justice, and convicted felons — individuals who are currently prohibited under federal law from possessing a firearm.
Any state “solution” to violence should target people who fall into those categories. Via outreach programs — rehab, mental health, gang violence prevention, and the like — we ought to do what we can to get at-risk individual back on the right path.
Failing that, if they show no sign of improvement and remain an imminent threat to public safety, they ought to be involuntarily committed, placed under surveillance or, when caught in the commission of another violent crime, locked behind bars.
All common sense. All perfectly doable within the framework of existing law. And all possible without infringing on the 2A rights of law-abiding gun owners and wasting taxpayer dollars.
The “Ghost Gun” scare really irks me. I could half understand it if it was a problem or growing problem in criminal acts, but in truth it isn’t a problem. Per data, the number of Ghost Guns used in the commission of crimes is so small, that it’s statistically insignificant and regarded as an outlier. Everyone’s starting to buy into a hype that isn’t there.
Building your own firearm is as much a part of the American Experience as any exercise in self sufficiency. Taking that away is wrong and oppressive, and a sign of a government out of control.
You can’t tell Lie-beral DEMONocrats anything. They live in their own universe (head), and it’s their way or the highway. Facts and common sense do not register to them. They FEEL they’re doing the right thing.
I am really confused about SB 3054. The state requires registration of firearms brought in by tourists within 72 hours. I have one registered there. Per the law, once registered it is good for as long as you own it so there is no notification required when you visit or leave the state.