LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i’s elected leaders say that Hawai‘i has tough gun laws and that it may be premature to enact more legislation without a deeper look. Kaua‘i Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said Hawai‘i has fairly strict gun registration and permitting
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i’s elected leaders say that Hawai‘i has tough gun laws and that it may be premature to enact more legislation without a deeper look.
Kaua‘i Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar said Hawai‘i has fairly strict gun registration and permitting laws, especially when compared to a lot of other states.
The criminal and mental health background checks, firearms education and other requirements have done well to ensure the people who possess guns and ammunition are responsible.
“This is a hot-button topic right now with some real tragic events happening across the country — and the world — and there is a lot of competing viewpoints out there as to what should be done about it,” Kollar said.
“To a certain extent, the cat is out of the bag and we need to have a discussion about it, but the answer about what to do about it as a community will take a while.”
A discussion on gun laws should consider whether any proposed change would have a measurable impact on gun-related crime, Kollar said, and especially in communities with a low percentage of gun crime.
KPD seizures
Kaua‘i Police Department seized 21 firearms in 2011. Some of those seizures were from violations while using the weapon and others were from forfeiture for committing a separate felony offense.
“In a lot of ways we are pretty fortunate to live in a place like Kaua‘i, where there is still a fairly low incidence of firearms-related violent crime,” Kollar said. “But when it does happen, we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”
Aureo Moore, 34, was killed by fatal, point-blank gunshot — with allegedly an illegally possessed firearm — on Dec. 17, 2010. The trial of the man accused of the crime, Vicente Hilario, is underway in 5th Circuit Court.
“That is something we take very seriously,” Kollar said.
Cases where law-abiding people that register their firearms and then commit violations are usually the result of oversight or carelessness, he said. A shotgun shell rolls under a car seat, or a pistol is improperly stored.
“The other category is the people who use their firearms to go out and commit other offenses, and naturally those are the most serious ones,” Kollar said. “Those are people who are not going to register their firearms no matter what the law says, or what we do to urge them to register their firearms or acquire the necessary permits.”
Reasons for registration
The state firearms transactions permit requirement went into effect on July 1, 1994. People who owned a firearm prior to that date must go through the permitting process if they want to lend, sell or otherwise transfer ownership.
Registration helps to ensure that weapons coming onto the island are going through legal channels, Kollar said. Tougher laws may not necessarily stop illegal weapons from coming onto the island, though.
“I am not currently advocating for changing any of those laws within our county,” Kollar added. “The vast majority of the good law-abiding folks out there will and do and will continue to” follow the law.
The law was not intended to subject law-abiding people to additional public scrutiny, Kollar said. Mandatory registration was passed for many reasons and among them was to protect law enforcement officers.
“We don’t want police rolling up to a scene after a call about a disturbance or a fight or something, and all of a sudden they are confronted with this arsenal of weapons,” he said. “It’s important for people to have access to that kind of information.”
His concern is not to infringe on an island hunting culture where people are taught to responsibly handle and use firearms for a variety of functions from a young age.
“We respect that 100 percent,” Kollar said.
Kollar pointed to many social factors that could contribute to the recent rash of gun-related mass murders around the country, such as the lack of health insurance and access to mental health resources or the lack of economic opportunity.
“These are all things that we can work on as a community,” he said.
Once a person starts committing crimes and winds up in the criminal justice system, he said it shows there is a failure in the social net in providing opportunities for prevention. The idea is not to have a socialized state, but instead a community that is raising healthy people.
“Its hard to pick up the pieces and put them back together, and we should work in the long run to prevent the pieces from coming apart,” he said.
KPD Chief: Mental health help needed
Darryl Perry, Chief of the Kaua‘i Police Department, agreed that Hawai‘i’s laws are some of the toughest in the nation.
However, he said, “I still have a very difficult time reconciling the deaths of hundreds of innocent victims through the violent use of firearms.”
More strict gun laws may help, he added, but must be combined with additional programs for those suffering from mental health issues.
“As a society, we cannot have one without the other,” Perry said. “Too many have already died because of government’s failure to merge the two.”
Legislators: More debate needed
State Sen. Ronald Kouchi, D- Kaua‘i, Ni‘ihau, said that proposed gun legislation would become more clear as the session moves forward and the reviews and testimony are submitted.
“While I support our Second Amendment rights, there are serious issues raised by the recent mass shootings on the Mainland that will raise healthy debate from all concerned parties,” Kouchi said.
State Rep. Dee Morikawa, D-District 16, said it is not yet clear if their needs to be any additional gun legislation on the state level.
“As far as the gun laws, I really don’t see a need for us to touch anything right now, for Hawai‘i anyway,” Morikawa said.
State Rep. James Tokioka, D-District 15, said he was asked by a House colleague to sign onto a bill that would restrict the purchase of ammunition only to the permitted owner of the firearm. He said that such restrictive language might bring unintended consequences and punish otherwise responsible firearms owners.
Tokioka said the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment right to bear arms is as important, but so is requiring background checks for people who would like to purchase a firearm. He said Hawai‘i already has some of the strongest gun laws in the country.
“In my opinion, this should be handled at the federal level,” Tokioka said. “The federal level would guarantee that there was one ruling across the board, as opposed to the different intra-state laws that individual states may have — if any.”
State Rep. Derek Kawakami, District 14, said that when considering gun laws he keeps in mind his friends and constituents that use AR-15 rifles for hunting food and target practice.
“I fear that banning assault rifles would not address the problem,” Kawakami said.
“It is heartbreaking about what is happening around the country and I feel it is tied into a bigger problem than guns,” he added. “It is about the mental health of some citizens, and the fear is that if we go out and ban assault rifles then they would find another way to obtain weapons in the underground black market.”
The mass shootings show that we are at a tragic point in our society, Kawakami said.
“Banning assault rifles is not the cure,” he said. “We need to take a wide look at this problem to craft solutions.”
Kaua‘i laws
According to the Kaua‘i Police Department web site, a gun owner is required to apply for a firearms permit in person at the department’s Records Section at the Lihu‘e headquarters building, 3990 Kaana Street.
A gun owner must be at least 21 years of age, a U.S. born citizen or with proof of naturalization, have a clear criminal history background, and pass a mental health check.
Some weapons registration requires proof of special training or certification to obtain or own a firearm. Call the firearms clerk at 808-241-1663 for more information.
Notable gun crimes in 5th Circuit Court
2011
• A Nevada man pleaded no-contest plea and sentenced to probation after Lihu‘e Airport security found a pistol in his suitcase.
• A Kapa‘a man was sentenced to one year in jail for a misdemeanor gun permit violation while awaiting trial on forgery charges.
• A jury found a Koloa man guilty on six counts of theft, weapons and drug charges.
2012
• A Kapahi man was sentenced to 18 months jail and a five-year probation after barricading himself in a police standoff and shooting more than 20 rifle rounds into his landlord’s residence and in the direction of police officers.
• A Hanapepe man pleaded no contest to possession of a firearm or ammunition by a person convicted of certain crime, keeping an unloaded firearm in an unauthorized location and causing an accident involving injury.
• A jury found a Kapa‘a man not guilty of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, prohibited by a person convicted of a felony.
• Two Hanapepe men received probation and were ordered to take a hunting safety course for unlawfully keeping a weapon and ammunition in a vehicle. The weapons included a Ruger mini-30 rifle and a Polytech AK-47/S replica rifle.
• A Kapa‘a man was sentenced to received a 10 year prison term for possession of drugs and for carrying a loaded .45-caliber pistol in a residential area.
• A Koloa man received 18-months and a five-year probation for attempted first-degree assault. He allegedly shot his spouse in the thigh through a closed door with a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver.
• A Lihu‘e postal worker pleaded no contest and awaiting sentencing in U.S. Federal District Court to making a false statement in connection with the purchase of a firearm and for illegal possession of a machine gun.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
