Registration, mandatory, exceptions
HRS §134-3
in effect134-3. Registration, mandatory, exceptions
(a) Every resident or other person arriving in the State who brings or by any other manner causes to be brought into the State a firearm of any description, whether usable or unusable, serviceable or unserviceable, modern or antique, shall register and submit to physical inspection the firearm within five days after arrival of the person or of the firearm, whichever arrives later, with the chief of police of the county of the person's place of business or, if there is no place of business, the person's residence or, if there is neither a place of business nor residence, the person's place of sojourn. A nonresident alien may bring firearms not otherwise prohibited by law into the State for a continuous period not to exceed ninety days; provided that the person meets the registration requirement of this section and the person possesses:
(1) A valid Hawaii hunting license procured under
chapter 183D, part II, or a commercial or private shooting preserve permit
issued pursuant to section 183D-34;
(2) A written document indicating the person has been
invited to the State to shoot on private land; or
(3) Written notification from a firing range or
target shooting business indicating that the person will actually engage in
target shooting.
The nonresident alien shall be limited to a
nontransferable registration of no more than ten firearms for the purpose of
the above activities.
Every person registering a firearm under this
subsection shall be fingerprinted and photographed by the police department of
the county of registration; provided that this requirement shall be waived
where fingerprints and photographs are already on file with the police
department. The police department shall perform an inquiry on the person by
using the International Justice and Public Safety Network, including the United
States Immigration and Customs Enforcement query, the National Crime
Information Center, and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System,
pursuant to section 846-2.7 before any determination to register a firearm is
made. Any person attempting to register a firearm, a firearm receiver, or the
parts used to assemble a firearm, and who is found to be disqualified from
ownership, possession, or control of firearms or ammunition under section
134-7, shall surrender or dispose of all firearms and ammunition pursuant to
section 134-7.3.
(b) Every person who acquires a firearm
pursuant to section 134-2 shall register the firearm in the manner prescribed
by this section within five days of acquisition. If the firearm is acquired
from a person who is not a dealer licensed under section 134-31 or a dealer
licensed by the United States Department of Justice, the firearm shall be
physically inspected by the chief of police of the appropriate county or
designee at the time of registration. The registration of all firearms shall
be on forms prescribed by the attorney general, which shall be uniform
throughout the State, and shall include the following information: name of the
manufacturer and importer; model; type of action; caliber or gauge; serial
number; and source from which receipt was obtained, including the name and
address of the prior registrant. If the firearm has been assembled from
separate parts and an unfinished firearm receiver, the entity that registered
the firearm receiver shall be recorded in the space provided for the name of
the manufacturer and importer, and the phrase "assembled from parts"
shall be recorded in the space provided for model. If the firearm has been
assembled from parts created using a three-dimensional printer, the entity that
registered the firearm receiver shall be recorded in the space provided for the
name of the manufacturer and importer, and the phrase "3-D printer"
shall be recorded in the space provided for model. If the firearm has no
serial number, the registration number shall be entered in the space provided
for the serial number, and the registration number shall be engraved upon the
receiver portion of the firearm before registration. On firearms assembled
from parts created using a three-dimensional printer, the registration number
shall be engraved on stainless steel, permanently embedded to the firearm
receiver during fabrication or construction, and visible when the firearm is
assembled. Firearms and firearm receivers with engraved or embedded
registration numbers, even if done by a dealer licensed under section 134-31 or
a dealer licensed by the United States Department of Justice, shall be
physically inspected by the chief of police of the appropriate county or
designee at the time of registration. All registration data that would identify
the individual registering the firearm by name or address shall be confidential
and shall not be disclosed to anyone, except as may be required:
(1) For processing the registration;
(2) For database management by the Hawaii criminal
justice data center;
(3) By a law enforcement agency for the lawful
performance of its duties; or
(4) By order of a court.
(c) Dealers licensed under section 134-31 or
dealers licensed by the United States Department of Justice shall register
firearms pursuant to this section on registration forms prescribed by the
attorney general and shall not be required to have the firearms physically
inspected by the chief of police at the time of registration, except as
provided in subsection (b). An authorized dealer, as provided in section
134-31, or a dealer licensed by the United States Department of Justice, who
brings, assembles, or causes to be brought into the State by any other means,
separate parts and an unfinished firearm receiver that when assembled create a
firearm, or parts created by a three-dimensional printer that when assembled
create a firearm, shall register the unfinished firearm receiver and receive a
serial number before the assembly of the firearm or the sale or transfer of
unassembled firearm parts or a receiver to a third party in accordance with
subsection (b). Any sale or transfer of unfinished firearm receivers by an
authorized dealer to a third party shall be conducted as if they were fully
assembled firearms with a serial number engraved on the firearm receiver and in
accordance with the firearms permitting process in section 134-2.
(d) Registration shall not be required for:
(1) Any device that is designed to fire loose black
powder or that is a firearm manufactured before 1899;
(2) Any device not designed to fire or made incapable
of being readily restored to a firing condition; or
(3) All unserviceable firearms and destructive
devices registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
of the United States Department of Justice pursuant to Title 27, Code of
Federal Regulations.
(e) Every person who
permanently moves firearms out of the State shall contact and notify the county
police department in the county where the firearms are registered about the
removal of the firearms within five days of the removal from the State. Any person who fails to timely notify the appropriate
police department shall be subject to a civil penalty of $100 per firearm.
(f) No fee shall be charged for the
registration of a firearm under this section, except for a fee chargeable by
and payable to the registering county for persons registering a firearm under
subsection (a), in an amount equal to the fee charged by the Hawaii criminal
justice data center pursuant to section 846-2.7. In the case of a joint
registration, the fee provided for in this section may be charged to each
person.
(g) No person less than twenty-one years of
age shall bring or cause to be brought into the State any firearm.
[L 1988, c
275, pt of §2; am L 1994, c 204, §4; am L 1999, c 217, §2; am L 2007, c 9, §7;
am L 2013, c 254, §2; am L 2016, c 108, §3; am L 2019, c 257, §2; am L 2020, c
68, §2 and c 74, §5; am L 2022, c 30, §§2,5; am L 2023, c 52, §13]
Source: Hawaii State Legislature (capitol.hawaii.gov), via Internet Archive capturesURL: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/Vol03_Ch0121-0200D/HRS0134/HRS_0134-0003.htmFetched: 11/10/2026