Bill Text: HI SB121 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating To Firearms.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2023-12-11 - Carried over to 2024 Regular Session. [SB121 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SB121-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	121
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to firearms.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), the United States Supreme Court held that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution protect an individual's right to publicly carry a handgun for purposes of self-defense.  The Bruen court also determined that the law is settled that firearms could be prohibited in certain "sensitive places", consistent with the Second Amendment.  However, the Bruen court did not explicitly define "sensitive places", except that Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. noted in a concurring opinion that, "[p]roperly interpreted, the Second Amendment allows a 'variety' of gun regulations[,]" including "laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings".  The Supreme Court had endorsed these restrictions in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010).

     The legislature further finds that before Bruen, lower courts had held that national parks and the parking lots of rural post offices were also sensitive places, and had similarly indicated that libraries, museums, hospitals, and daycare centers may also ban guns.  Both red and blue states created a list of "sensitive places" such as public transit, polling places, athletic facilities, public swimming pools, riverboat casinos, school bus stops, pharmacies, business parking lots, public highways, amusement parks, zoos, liquor stores, airports, parades, demonstrations, financial institutions, theaters, hotel lobbies, tribal lands, and gun shows.  These "sensitive place" designations are now subject to challenge as insufficiently analogous to regulations that existed in the past.

     The legislature also finds that the Bruen decision has recently led states to propose legislation to define "sensitive places" where firearms are prohibited, which may lead to more explicit guidance from the United States Supreme Court.

     The purpose of this Act is to:

     (1)  Prohibit the carrying of a firearm in sensitive places;

     (2)  Define sensitive places; and

     (3)  Establish penalties for violations.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 134, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part I to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§134-    Prohibition against carrying a firearm in a sensitive place; penalties.  (a)  It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carry on their person a firearm, concealed or unconcealed, in a sensitive place.

     (b)  Any person violating this section shall be guilty of a class C felony.

     (c)  This section shall preempt any ordinances passed or adopted by any county to the extent that these ordinances conflict with or are inconsistent with the provisions of this section.

     (d)  For the purposes of this section, "sensitive place" means:

     (1)  Any government-owned or controlled buildings or offices, excluding:

          (A)  Any dwelling unit or lodging unit when not used as a child care facility;

          (B)  Firing range complex; and

          (C)  Government-owned or controlled building during the operating hours of an organized firearms show or exhibit;

     (2)  Hospitals, medical facilities, medical offices, and medical clinics;

     (3)  Churches or religious assemblies;

     (4)  Public parks or recreational grounds as defined in section 708-814.5;

     (5)  Child care facilities as defined in section 346-151;

     (6)  Schools as defined in section 302A-901;

     (7)  Shelters and residential facilities operated by a government entity or a charitable organization serving homeless children, children involved in the juvenile justice system, or children who are similarly at-risk;

     (8)  Any educational institution, college, or university;

     (9)  Any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit;

    (10)  Any facility used for or in connection with service in the transportation of passengers; and

    (11)  Any gathering of individuals to collectively express their constitutional rights to protest or assemble."

     SECTION 3.  Section 134-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

     1.  By amending subsection (a) to read:

     "(a)  Sections 134-7 to 134-9 [and], 134-21 to 134-27, and section 134-  , except [section] subsection 134-7(f), shall not apply:

     (1)  To state and county law enforcement officers; provided that [such] the persons are not convicted of an offense involving abuse of a family or household member under section 709-906;

     (2)  To members of the armed forces of the State and of the United States and mail carriers while in the performance of their respective duties if those duties require them to be armed;

     (3)  To regularly enrolled members of any organization duly authorized to purchase or receive the weapons from the United States or from the State; provided the members are either at, or going to or from, their places of assembly or target practice;

     (4)  To persons employed by the State, or subdivisions thereof, or the United States while in the performance of their respective duties or while going to and from their respective places of duty if those duties require them to be armed;

     (5)  To aliens employed by the State, or subdivisions thereof, or the United States while in the performance of their respective duties or while going to and from their respective places of duty if those duties require them to be armed; and

     (6)  To police officers on official assignment in Hawaii from any state which by compact permits police officers from Hawaii while on official assignment in that state to carry firearms without registration.  The governor of the State or the governor's duly authorized representative may enter into compacts with other states to carry out this paragraph."

     2.  By amending subsection (c) to read:

     "(c)  Sections 134-8, 134-9, [and] 134-21 to 134-27, and 134-  , shall not apply to the possession, transportation, or use, with blank cartridges, of any firearm or explosive solely as props for motion picture film or television program production when authorized by the chief of police of the appropriate county pursuant to section 134-2.5 and not in violation of federal law."

     SECTION 4.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

     SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Firearms; Sensitive Places; Penalties

 

Description:

Prohibits the carrying of a firearm in sensitive places.  Defines sensitive places.  Establishes penalties.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.