STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2177

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2046

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2046 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit trigger modification devices, including bump stocks, that are designed or function to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Mayor, County of Hawaii; Honolulu Police Department; Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, County of Maui; Americans for Democratic Action; and one individual.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Rifle Association, National Rifle Association Hawaii, Green Screen Hawaii, ASSE, Hawaii Sportsmen's Alliance, Hawaii Hunting Association, Maui Ammo and Gun Supply, Institute for Rational and Evidence-Based Legislation, and ninety-two individuals.

 

Your Committee finds that restricting certain uses of firearms and firearms accessories is necessary to ensure public safety.  Devices, such as bump stocks, that are designed to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm allow a semiautomatic firearm to behave similarly to an illegal automatic firearm.  Moreover, as witnessed in the mass shooting that occurred in Las Vegas in 2017, devices such as a bump stock can cause tremendous devastation in an extraordinarily short amount of time.  Therefore, this measure prohibits bump stocks and other similar trigger modification devices that are designed or function to accelerate the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2046 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair