STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1559

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1366

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1366, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREARMS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Amend the class C felony offense of manufacturing, purchasing, or obtaining firearm parts to assemble a firearm having no serial number to also prohibit possession of those firearm parts; and

 

     (2)  Amend Act 74, Session Laws of Hawaii 2020, to repeal language that specified the prospective application of that Act.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Honolulu Police Department, Hawaii Police Department, Democratic Party of Hawaii, Church of the Crossroads, and twenty-two individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the National Rifle Association of America, Puuloa Rifle and Pistol Club, Hawaii Firearms Coalition, and eighty-one individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that firearms that are assembled without serial numbers or other identification markings, known as "ghost guns", are extremely difficult to track and pose a significant obstacle to law enforcement.  Your Committees further find that Act 74, Regular Session of Hawaii 2020 (Act 74), established the class C felony offense of manufacturing, purchasing, or obtaining firearm parts to assemble ghost guns.  Your Committees additionally find that law enforcement agencies have reported that persons found to be in possession of ghost guns have claimed that their actions do not violate the law because the parts used to assemble the firearm were acquired before the effective date of Act 74.  This measure will make possession of these parts a class C felony.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1366, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

 

________________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair