STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2673

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2151
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Transportation and
Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2151
entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill, as received by your Committees, is
to require that all firearms be re-registered by the end of 2010,
and requires that firearms owners re-register firearms in five-
year cycles thereafter.

     Your Committees find that Hawaii has one of the strictest
gun control laws across the nation, and it is your Committees'
belief that these laws have had a tremendous impact upon our
firearm-related fatality rates.  Your Committees further find
that Hawaii has one of the lowest firearm-related fatality rates
in the nation, about one-third of the national average (4.4
deaths per 100,000 in Hawaii versus 12.94 per 100,000 population
for the nation).  However, your Committees agree that injuries
and deaths from firearms remain a serious public health problem
in Hawaii.  Your Committees believe, therefore, that we need to
strengthen our laws to prevent criminals and other prohibited
individuals from possessing and using firearms to injure and kill
innocent victims.

     Your Committees recognize that re-registration provides a
mechanism for the police to ensure that legal owners are still in
possession of their registered firearms.  Re-registration also

 
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provides a mechanism to periodically check the status of firearm
owners, especially the mental health history of the individual,
to ensure that they are still legally qualified to own a firearm.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the
Department of Health, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of
Women, the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney for the City
and County of Honolulu, the Honolulu Police Department, the Bell
Campaign, the Confirmation Class of Temple Emanu-El, Hawaii
Firearms Control Coalition, Hawaii Women Lawyers, Keiki Injury
Prevention Coalition, League of Women Voters, Puuhale Elementary
School students and student council members, Sam Shenkus
Marketing, and five concerned citizens.  Testimony in opposition
to this measure was submitted by the Firearms Academy of Hawaii,
Inc., the Hawaii Citizens' Rights PAC, the Hawaii Rifle
Association, the Libertarian Party of Hawaii, Lessons in Firearms
Education, the National Rifle Association of America, Security
Equipment Corp., a researcher affiliated with Yale University
School of Law, and approximately forty-five concerned
individuals.

     Upon further consideration, your Committees have amended
this bill by:

     (1)  Deleting the provisions that required a 10-year phase
          in period for the re-registration of all firearms;

     (2)  Deleting the provisions that required firearms owners
          to present all firearms owned or possessed to the chief
          of police of the respective counties for re-
          registration purposes;

     (3)  Providing that re-registration of all registered
          firearms begin January 1, 2001, in the month of the
          firearms owner's date of birth;

     (4)  Providing for re-registration by mail;

     (5)  Providing that the chief of police of the respective
          counties issue a firearms owner identification card to
          any person who registers or re-registers a firearm
          under section 134-3;

     (6)  Providing that no person shall sell ammunition for any
          firearm required to be registered or re-registered
          except upon proof that the purchaser is the registered
          owner;


 
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     (7)  Providing that no person shall sell ammunition for any
          unregistered rifle or shotgun acquired prior to July 1,
          1994, except upon proof that the purchaser is the
          registered owner;

     (8)  Providing that the presentation of a firearms owner
          identification card is proof that the purchaser is the
          registered owner of the firearms;

     (9)  Requiring that any physician, psychologist, or
          substance abuse counselor notify the chief of police of
          the respective counties when they treat a patient for
          the purposes detailed in section 134-7(c)(1)-(3),
          Hawaii Revised Statutes;

     (10) Extending immunity from civil liability to those
          physicians, psychologists, or psychiatrists who provide
          information for the purposes of investigating the
          continuing mental health of a firearms owner;

     (11) Making a conforming amendment to chapter 323C, Hawaii
          Revised Statutes, to allow a health care provider or
          public health authority to disclose protected health
          information to the chief of police of the respective
          counties for the purposes of evaluating an individual's
          request for a firearms permit or the re-registration of
          a firearm; and

     (12) Making technical, non-substantive changes for the
          purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Judiciary and Transportation and Intergovernmental
Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in
accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2151, as amended
herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form
attached hereto as S.B. No. 2151, S.D. 1, and be placed on the
calendar for Third Reading.


 
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                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Transportation and
                                   Intergovernmental Affairs,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAL KAWAMOTO, Chair                AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair



                                   ______________________________
                                   MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair


 
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