49 gun bills for 2023 with the vast majority being for gun control. This is higher than prior years. Almost all of these would be deemed unconstitutional per the SCOTUS Bruen decision last year, and almost none of them have the required historical precedent to back them up in court.
The most common add restrictions to the permit to acquire, carry, and sensitive places. There are some new ones which is negligent display of a firearm which could be accidental, such as reaching for something on a high shelf exposing your waistline. Attaching firearms to drones, requiring locked containers when transporting firearms, allowances to store firearms in vehicles under certain conditions, and liability for the gun industry (aka marketing lawsuits).
The egregious bill? Award goes to HB428 which bans the carry of guns in Downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. Kinda thought SCOTUS went over this before...
Carry bill to focus on? It would be the Governor's carry bills HB984 and SB1282 which include just about everything for permit to acquire and carry.
2 bills are up for hearing now HB535 was introduced by the Big Island hunters and is the main focus for hunting this year. It creates a game management plan to promote hunting, hunting education, increased hunting opportunities, etc. It also creates the certified public hunter program by the State, encouraging private land owners to allow hunting on their properties. Currently it is very difficult to hunt on private land, where most of the pigs and deer are located, due to liability concerns. This program would help to resolve that issue.
Please provide supporting testimony:
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=535&year=2023The other bill is SB98 which I have no position on. This will audit the State's Wildlife restoration program aka Pittman Robertson federal grant funds to promote hunting and develop ranges. This is the 11% federal firearms and ammunition tax that you pay.
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=98&year=2023This is the 2022 Wildlife Fund report, see what your tax dollars are spent on:
https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=DC&billnumber=87&year=2023