STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2638

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3196

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3196 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Amend the prohibition on certain assault weapons to include assault rifles, assault shotguns, .50 caliber rifles, and assault weapon attachments;

(2) Modernize the prohibition on assault pistols to include pistols with one or more prohibited feature;

(3) Expand the ban on pistols with a detachable magazine with over a ten round capacity to any firearm with a detachable magazine with over a ten round capacity;

(4) Prohibit persons from bringing or causing to be brought into the State an assault rifle or assault shotgun;

(5) Prohibit the sale or transfer of an assault rifle or assault shotgun in the State, unless the assault rifle or assault shotgun is sold or transferred to an authorized individual; and

(6) Create exceptions for the acquisition and possession of prohibited firearms for members of law enforcement and the military.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from two members of the Hawaiʻi County Council, GIFFORDS Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, Hawaiʻi Chapters of Mom's Demand Action, Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Everytown Veterans Advisory Council, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Hawaiʻi Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, Hawaiʻi Friends of Civil Rights, Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Indivisible Hawaii, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Church of the Crossroads, and over one hundred individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the National Rifle Association; Hawaii Firearms Coalition; Hawaii Rifle Association; Hawaii Federation of Republican Women; Puʻuloa Rifle and Pistol Club; Epowersports; Tigershark, LLC; Young Guns; S. Tokunaga Store Inc.; Mid-Pacific Pistol League; Security Equipment Corp.; Red Letter Industries; Koffin Wurks; Kona Guns and Ammo, LLC; and over one thousand eighty individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from six individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the nation, and in 2023 the State received an A-minus rating from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. While the State had the third lowest number of gun deaths per capita in the nation in 2021, Hawaii is the only State with an assault weapons ban that fails to ban assault rifles and assault shotguns. Your Committee finds this fact is inconsistent with the State's commitment to protect the safety and well-being of its residents. Accordingly, this measure will modernize the State's assault weapon's ban to expand gun violence prevention policies.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3196 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

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GLENN WAKAI, Chair