Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 600 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to raise the minimum age of a person to whom a rifle or shotgun may be transferred from eighteen to twenty-one years.

Prior to hearing this measure, your Committee distributed a proposed H.D. 1 in which the contents of this measure were replaced with those of H.B. No. 2996.

The purpose of this measure as proposed to be amended is to repeal the prohibition against the manufacture, possession, sale, or acquisition of detachable pistol ammunition magazines with a capacity in excess of ten rounds.

The County of Kauai Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Hawaii Rifle Association, one business entity, and twelve concerned individuals submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Department of the Attorney General and the Honolulu Police Department submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

Your Committee recognizes that, while the intent of the existing prohibition on higher capacity magazines is laudable, it should be noted that only law-abiding citizens appear to comply with this law. In contrast, criminals, who do not have the same respect for the law, are able to gain access to higher capacity magazines and use them to commit crimes.

Your Committee believes that law-abiding citizens should not be put at a comparative disadvantage and that repealing the prohibition on higher capacity magazines will improve the ability of law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families. Your Committee also notes that, in 2004, the federal government repealed its prohibition on magazines with a capacity in excess of ten rounds.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 600, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 600, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.