Question: Some time ago, before it was necessary to register rifles in Hawaii, I had three rifles stolen from my house. They were recovered by the police but kept as evidence. Years later they were returned to me by the police, but I had to complete a state Firearms and Ammunition Registration. Unfortunately, the rifles were not stored properly and were in terrible condition. I eventually gave them to a friend who was transferring to the mainland, but I am still registered with the state as the owner. With the new law in Hawaii linking gun ownership with the FBI database, I need to nullify the obsolete registration. However, there are no instructions on the registration or anything I could find on the state website concerning canceling the registration. Can you please find any information concerning nullifying a firearms registration?

Answer: There is no process to de-register a firearm in Hawaii, according to Honolulu Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu. A gun owner may sell or transfer ownership to a licensed firearms dealer or to a private citizen who has a valid permit to acquire the firearm, she said. Or a gun owner may turn in the weapon for destruction at the HPD firearms counter.

But there is no way to “nullify an obsolete registration,” which, by your description, involved you giving away guns without taking care of the proper paperwork.

Regarding the new Hawaii law to which you referred in your question:

Senate Bill 2954, which Gov. David Ige signed into law as Act 108, made Hawaii the first U.S. state to authorize enrolling gun owners in a nationwide criminal-record monitoring system, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office when he signed the bill in June.

The law allows county police departments to enter the fingerprints of people applying for gun permits and registering guns in an FBI database known as “Rap Back,” which notifies law enforcement agencies when a gun owner is arrested on a criminal offense anywhere in the country. “This will allow county police departments in Hawaii to evaluate whether the firearm owner may continue to legally possess and own firearms,” according to the news release, in which the governor praised the law as advancing community safety.

Act 108 applies to gun registrations that occur after the law took effect. However, since Rap Back monitors people, not weapons, previously registered guns also could be affected — for example, if an owner registers a new gun (subject to the Rap Back requirement) and later runs afoul of the law, authorities explained.

“The gun is not what’s entered into Rap Back. It’s the person’s fingerprints,” said Joshua Wisch, a special assistant for the Hawaii attorney general. “So … should that person become prohibited (from owning firearms) in the future, all firearms will be subject to seizure, not only the most recently registered.”

The Hawaii Rifle Association is among the groups that oppose SB 2954/Act 108, describing it as an unconstitutional overreach that places law-abiding people into a national, continuously monitored database simply because they own guns. “The exercise of an individual’s Second Amendment rights is not inherently suspicious and should not require a person to surrender other civil liberties, including unwarranted invasions of privacy or unequal treatment under the law,” states a link on the group’s Facebook page.

Harvey F. Gerwig II, the HRA’s president and director, said in an interview that he also is concerned Hawaii’s law could have the unintended consequence of encouraging people to acquire guns outside the state’s permitting and registration system, to avoid being entered in Rap Back.

As for your old guns, Gerwig said they can be traced to you if used in a crime, using detection systems that predate Rap Back. “If they are still in his name, that will show up. … It’s important to follow the correct process” when buying, selling or giving away a gun, he said.

One historical note: Gerwig said that rifles and shotguns did not have to be registered until after passage of the Long Gun Registration Act in September 1994.

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