Prohibits the manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer or acquisition of a .50 Browning machine gun rifle or .50 cartridge. Creates penalties. Adds definitions.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Section 134-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

"".50 Browning machine gun cartridge" means a cartridge that includes a ball, tracer, incendiary, armor piercing, armor piercing incendiary, armor piercing incendiary tracer, saboted light armor penetrator, and is designed and intended to be fired from a center fire rifle and that meets all of the following criteria:

".50 Browning machine gun rifle" means a center fire rifle that can fire a .50 Browning machine gun cartridge but does not include:

SECTION 2. Section 134-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§134-8 Ownership, etc., of automatic firearms, silencers, Browning machine guns, etc., prohibited; penalties. (a) The manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any of the following is prohibited: assault pistols, except as provided by section 134-4(e); automatic firearms; rifles with barrel lengths less than sixteen inches; shotguns with barrel lengths less than eighteen inches; cannons; mufflers, silencers, or devices for deadening or muffling the sound of discharged firearms; hand grenades, dynamite, blasting caps, bombs, or bombshells, or other explosives; or any type of ammunition or any projectile component thereof coated with teflon or any other similar coating designed primarily to enhance its capability to penetrate metal or pierce protective armor; and any type of ammunition or any projectile component thereof designed or intended to explode or segment upon impact with its target.

(b) Any person who installs, removes, or alters a firearm part with the intent to convert the firearm to an automatic firearm shall be deemed to have manufactured an automatic firearm in violation of subsection (a).

(c) The manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of detachable ammunition magazines with a capacity in excess of ten rounds which are designed for or capable of use with a pistol is prohibited. This subsection shall not apply to magazines originally designed to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition which have been modified to accept no more than ten rounds and which are not capable of being readily restored to a capacity of more than ten rounds.

(d) Except as provided in this section, the manufacture, possession, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any .50 Browning machine gun rifle or .50 Browning machine gun cartridge is prohibited.

(e) After July 1, 2006, no person shall bring or cause to bring into the State a .50 Browning machine gun rifle or .50 Browning machine gun cartridge.

(f) After July 1, 2006, no person shall sell or transfer a .50 Browning machine gun rifle or .50 Browning machine gun cartridge to anyone within the State except:

(g) A person who obtains title to a .50 Browning machine gun rifle or .50 Browning machine gun cartridge by bequest or intestate succession; provided that the person, within ninety days of the passing of title shall:

[(d)] (h) Any person violating subsection (a) or (b) shall be guilty of a class C felony and shall be imprisoned for a term of five years without probation. Any person violating subsection (c) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor except when a detachable magazine prohibited under this section is possessed while inserted into a pistol, in which case the person shall be guilty of a class C felony. Any person violating subsections (d), (e), (f), and (g) shall be guilty of a class B felony and shall be imprisoned for a term of ten years and is not eligible for probation."

SECTION 3. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.