STAND. COM. REP. NO.26

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 934

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 934 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP OF FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to prohibit persons restrained by a court order from transferring ownership of a firearm.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, and the Hawaii Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The Office of the Public Defender, the Honolulu Police Department, and the Hawaii Rifle Association opposed the measure.

Your Committee finds that currently, persons restrained by a court order are prohibited from possessing or controlling a firearm, and must surrender the firearm to police for safekeeping. Because the law does not prohibit transferring ownership of the firearm, some persons transfer their firearms to family or friends which, in some cases, allows continued access by the person to the firearm.

Your Committee recognizes that section 134-7.3 allows the transference of ownership of firearms when a person is disqualified from owning or possessing a firearm. Therefore, your Committee has amended this measure by allowing the transference of ownership of a firearm subject to conditions, limitations, and prohibitions set by the court and set forth in the protective order.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 934, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 934, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

COLLEEN HANABUSA, Chair