HONOLULU, HI –-(Ammoland.com)- Today, a District judge announced that he would strike down Hawaii’s gun registration and firearms permit law in the Yukutake v Connors case.
The lawsuit centers around Hawaii’s requirements on gun owners along with Honolulu Police Department’s registration and gun policies. Gun owners must apply for a firearm permit in person at the central police station on Oahu. This rule means that a gun must travel to the police station in Honolulu to apply for a gun permit no matter where they live on the island. The resident must then return to the station in person 14 days later to pick up the permit. Once the person acquires a firearm, they must then again return to the station with the gun to register it with the police department.
These requirements mean that a person must travel to the police station at least three times to obtain a gun in the Aloha State.
It could take several hours to reach the police station Honolulu from parts of the island depending on the time of day and traffic, and the Honolulu Police Department policies limit the time that a resident can pick up a permit to Monday to Friday (excluding holidays) and between the hours of 7:45 am and 3 pm. These times are in the middle of the workday for most residents, which means that someone would have to take off three days of work to obtain a gun.
Todd Yukutake and David Kikukawa challenged the law and claimed that it put an undue burden on their rights as gun owners. A Hawaiian District judge seems to agree with the men and said he would grant their motion for summary judgment entirely. At the same time, the judge will deny Hawaii’s motion for summary judgment completely. Thus, the ruling will strike down provisions of the state’s firearm permitting statutes.
The judge gave the state a chance to enter into a consent decree negotiated with the plaintiffs. Those negotiations would be like the Firearms Policy Coalition’s Philadelphia License to Carry (LTC) case, where the City entered into a consent decree with the plaintiffs. In that case, Keith Fetsurka, Timothy Sieck, and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) sued the City of Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, City of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Robert Evanchick over the closure of the City’s Gun Permit Unit because of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Alternatively, the state could appeal the ruling to the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Still, if it would do that, it would lose its ability to mitigate the damage if it lost at the federal circuit level. Legal experts AmmoLand News spoke to about the case expects the state to enter into consent decree negotiations with the plaintiffs.
For full disclosure, the attorney representing Todd Yukutake and David Kikukawa is Stephen Stamboulieh. Mr. Stamboulieh has represented me in the past when pushing the ATF to turn over documents via a Freedom of Information Act request. Stamboulieh and AmmoLand News had no contact about the case.
Mr. Stamboulieh and attorneys for the state do not have a comment at this time.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
The post Judge Announces Intent To Strike Down Gun Registration And Firearms Permit Law appeared first on AmmoLand.com.
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