Question: Please say when there will be another gun buyback. We are slowly cleaning out our parents’ property now that they have both passed away and there is a lot of stuff we need to get rid of, including some guns that I have no information on.
Answer: Hawaii’s Department of Law Enforcement is scheduled to host a gun buyback event on April 12, offering Foodland gift cards for unloaded firearms, no questions asked. All firearms that are turned in will be checked to see if they were reported stolen or were used in crimes; those that are cleared will be destroyed, according to an email from the department.
Here are details about the upcoming event:
>> Drop off firearms from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 12 (a Saturday) at the Aloha Stadium Lower Parking lot, 99-500 Salt Lake Blvd. Enter at Gate 4.
>> Firearm must be unloaded and stored in a container or box in the vehicle’s trunk. The person turning in the gun will stay in the car while an official retrieves the weapon from the trunk.
>> No questions will be asked and no ID will be required.
>> Working or nonworking firearms will be accepted.
>> Ammunition will not be accepted.
>> Foodland gift cards worth $200 will be given for automatic firearms of any type, semi-automatic rifles and ghost guns. Foodland gift cards worth $100 will be given for handguns, rifles, shotguns, bump stocks and Glock switches.
>> A person can turn in an unlimited number of firearms, but receive a maximum of three gift cards.
>> Once a firearm is turned in, it will not be returned.
>> Licensed gun dealers and active and retired law enforcement officers are not eligible to drop off guns.
>> Officials on-site reserve the right to refuse acceptance of firearms or disburse gift cards.
>> Gun locks will be given away (free) at the event.
>> After the event, firearms not reported stolen or used in a crime will be destroyed following ATF guidelines. ATF is the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. For information about its destruction guidelines, see atf.gov.
Q: What happened to the 200-plus opihi that were confiscated from the two men illegally gathering them in the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District? Are they thrown back in the ocean?
A: “If the specimens are viable and have a chance of living they’re returned to the ocean. Dead ones are disposed of. They cannot be used for human consumption,” Dan Dennison, a spokesperson for the state Department of Natural Resources said in an email.
Two men were cited March 26 by DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement after an anonymous tipster reported seeing them picking opihi at the southern end of the Pupukea MLCD on Oahu’s North Shore.
“Officers inspected their catch, which included 235 pieces of ‘opihi. While they were of legal size, taking any mollusk from the MLCD is prohibited and this includes seashells and ‘opihi,” according to a DLNR news release.
The men, both Oahu residents, were cited for an alleged violation of Rule 13-34-2 (1) of Hawai‘i Administrative Rules relating to Prohibited Activities within the Pupukea MLCD and are scheduled to appear on petty misdemeanor charges in Wahiawa District Court on May 13, the news release said.
Signs are posted at the Pupukea MLCD, which was established in 1983, warning of the restrictions, which protect fish and marine life so that aquatic resources can flourish and produce more offspring, which can spill over to adjacent areas outside the conservation zone. The Pupukea MLCD extends from the south end of Waimea Bay northward past Sharks Cove, the news release said.
Meanwhile, in incidents that occurred Saturday on the island of Hawaii, three men were cited under a different administrative rule for allegedly picking undersized opihi along the Alii Drive shoreline in Kailua-Kona. The total of 300 opihi collected in those incidents were alive and therefore returned to tide pools along the shoreline, where they had a chance of reattaching and surviving, according to a DLNR news release about those three cases.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
