Hawaii: Honolulu Seeks to Severely Restrict Carry

Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 29^th, the Honolulu City Council will hear an ordinance to prohibit citizens from exercising their right-to-carry in many places. This is an attempt to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s NYSRPA v. Bruen ruling that affirmed the right-to-carry applies outside the home, which forced Hawaii to stop arbitrarily denying carry permits to applicants who met all objective criteria. Please contact the Council members here to submit testimony opposing Bill 57 (2022).

Bill 57 (2022) is an effort by the Honolulu City Council to discourage law-abiding persons from exercising their rights, by creating as many “gun-free zones” as possible. This patchwork of so-called “sensitive areas” does nothing more than create confusion for law-abiding persons, while being blatantly ignored by criminals. The ordinance prohibits carrying firearms in many public places, including city-owned or controlled buildings, public parks, within 200ft of any voter service or ballot deposit location, in or on public transportation buildings, structures, or grounds, or within 100ft of any place where 25 or more people gather to exercise their First Amendment rights.  Further, the ordinance prohibits carrying firearms on the premises of private businesses, including parking lots, unless the private business “expressly” consents to it, such as by signage. This is the Council making a one-size-fits-all decision for all private businesses unless they wish to publicly declare their support for lawful carry and possibly open themselves to harassment by anti-gun radicals.

The proposed ordinance claims that the goal is to “preserve the order and security of the City,” but it fails to explain how disarming law-abiding, trained, and licensed individuals will accomplish that. It, also, presents no plan as to how the council intends to disarm violent criminals, who already ignore the existing laws. It does not prescribe active measures, such as metal detectors or guaranteed police presence, for any of these areas to ensure that disarmed citizens are kept safe.

Again, please contact the City Council to submit testimony opposing Bill 57 (2022). Once you click here, select the ‘Council Meeting (Nov 29, 2022)’. Then select the first agenda item, Bill 57 - relating to the public carry of firearms. Once you hit ‘Select,’ click ‘oppose’ and enter your contact information to submit.

Please forward to your friends, family and other Second Amendment advocates; the more opposing testimonies the City Council receives, the better!  Stay tuned to www.nraila.org and your email inbox for further updates.