SECTION 1. The legislature finds that United States nationals, a category that includes persons born in American Samoa who, although not citizens, owe permanent allegiance to the United States, are being denied permits to acquire firearms by county police departments. This is because section 134-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, limits the issuance of these permits to "citizens of the United States".

The legislature also finds that the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, codified in Title 18 United States Code Chapter 44, does not explicitly prohibit United States nationals from owning or possessing firearms. Chapter 44 prohibits the sale or transfer of firearms or ammunition to only persons charged or convicted of a felony, fugitives from justice, unlawful users of controlled substances, persons committed to a mental institution, illegal aliens, and aliens admitted to the United States under a non-immigrant visa. Further, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' transaction record form, which must accompany firearms sales by federally licensed dealers, instructs firearms buyers who are United States nationals that they may list their country of citizenship as "U.S.A" and leave blank the "U.S.-issued alien number or admission number". The form is consistent with the lack of an explicit federal prohibition against firearm ownership or possession by United States nationals.

The legislature further finds that there is no compelling reason to deny United States nationals the ability to acquire firearms under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, given that they have sworn allegiance to the United States, hold United States passports, and enjoy many of the same rights as full citizens. The legislature believes that the reasoning of the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii in a 2014 decision, Fotoudis v. City and County of Honolulu, 54 F.Supp.3d 1136, is directly relevant to United States nationals. In Fotoudis, the district court held that the State's categorical exclusion of lawful permanent resident aliens from firearm ownership, based solely on their non-citizen status, violated the equal protection clause and Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. The district court's analysis cited United States Supreme Court cases holding that: the Second Amendment confers an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense purposes (District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008)); the Second Amendment is applicable to the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010)); and that lawful permanent residents, despite being non-citizens, are part of a national community or have a sufficient connection with this country to be considered part of the community, such that they are among "the people" of the United States protected by the Second Amendment (United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, 494 U.S. 259 (1990)).

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to explicitly authorize county police chiefs to issue permits to acquire firearms to nationals of the United States who otherwise meet all of the applicable criteria under section 134-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

SECTION 2. Section 134-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""National of the United States" shall have the same meaning as in title 8 United States Code section 1101."

SECTION 3. Section 134-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (d) to read as follows:

"(d) The chief of police of the respective counties may issue permits to acquire firearms to citizens and nationals of the United States of the age of twenty-one years or more, or duly accredited official representatives of foreign nations, or duly commissioned law enforcement officers of the State who are aliens; provided that any law enforcement officer who is the owner of a firearm and who is an alien shall transfer ownership of the firearm within forty-eight hours after termination of employment from a law enforcement agency. The chief of police of each county may issue permits to aliens of the age of eighteen years or more for use of rifles and shotguns for a period not exceeding sixty days, upon a showing that the alien has first procured a hunting license under chapter 183D, part II. The chief of police of each county may issue permits to aliens of the age of twenty-one years or more for use of firearms for a period not exceeding six months, upon a showing that the alien is in training for a specific organized sport-shooting contest to be held within the permit period. The attorney general shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, as to what constitutes sufficient evidence that an alien is in training for a sport-shooting contest. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary and upon joint application, the chief of police may issue permits to acquire firearms jointly to spouses who otherwise qualify to obtain permits under this section."

SECTION 4. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.

SECTION 5. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2465
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2020
STATE OF HAWAII