STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3345

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.R. No. 73

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Judiciary, to which was referred S.R. No. 73 entitled:

"SENATE RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO SUBMIT A REPORT TO THE LEGISLATURE ON ALL CURRENT STATE GUN CONTROL LAWS, HOW THEY COMPARE WITH CURRENT FEDERAL REGULATIONS, DATA ON FIREARM DISCHARGES, AND DATA ON GUN CRIME IN HAWAII,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Legislative Reference Bureau to submit a report to the Legislature detailing:

(1) All current state gun control laws, including restrictions on ownership, modifications, and accessories; penalties for illegal use or possession; and the processes required for obtaining and dispossessing individuals of various types of firearms;

(2) Data on violent crime in Hawaii, including the number of instances involving a firearm, the number of deaths attributed to a firearm, and the number of firearms deaths caused by an accident or accidental discharge of a firearm;

(3) Aggregate data on the number of registered firearm owners in the State and the total number of legally permitted firearms; and

(4) A comparison of state statutes, rules, and regulations to existing federal statutes, rules, and regulations where parallel comparisons are available.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i and two individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Institute for Rational and Evidence-based Legislation. Your Committees received comments on this measure from two individuals.

Your Committees find that recent, high profile shootings across the country necessitate that the State evaluate existing statutes to ensure that they are as adequate and appropriate today as they were when originally enacted. Your Committees further find that in order to effectively evaluate existing statutes, it is important to collect relevant data relating to gun ownership and use in the State and relevant data on gun-related accidents and crimes. Moreover, your Committees find that it is important to compare existing state law to existing federal law to determine if the State's gun control laws are at least as effective as comparable federal law.

Your Committees have amended this measure by clarifying that the Honolulu Field Office of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation; Honolulu Satellite Office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Judiciary of the State of Hawaii; Department of the Attorney General; and respective police departments of the City and County of Honolulu, County of Hawaii, County of Kauai, and County of Maui are requested to submit to the Legislative Reference Bureau any firearms-related information relevant to the substance of the report no later than August 1, 2018, in order to assist the Bureau in its timely completion of the report.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 73, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 73, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair