Question: I read that 477 people so far have applied for “concealed carry” gun licenses on Oahu (808ne.ws/3y2IXnF). When the Honolulu Police Department starts to issue these licenses, will there also be an easily accessible public list of who got them, so we know who is walking around with a gun? It would be nice to know which of our neighbors we can either fear or rely on — depending on their character and our relationship with said neighbor.
Answer: No, according to the Honolulu Police Department. The names of registered gun owners in Hawaii are not released to the public, and anyone who gets a license to carry a concealed firearm on Oahu would be a registered owner.
Other readers have asked how to look up whether a neighbor or co-worker owns a gun and the answer is the same: There is no publicly available registry.
“The names of firearms applicants and license holders are considered confidential, as are the names of individuals who applied but were denied licenses and those who did not complete the licensing process. There is no specific law that addresses the confidentiality of license to carry information. However, HRS Section 134-3 mandates that all firearms registration data that would identify the individual registering the firearm by name or address shall be confidential, and license to carry information would fall under HRS Section 92F-13(4) of the Uniform Information Practices Act,” HPD spokesperson Michelle Yu said in an email Friday.
Hawaii Revised Statutes Section 134-3(b) says that registration data that would identify the individual by name or address “shall not be disclosed to anyone, except as may be required for processing the registration; for database management by the Hawaii criminal justice data center; by a law enforcement agency for the lawful performance of its duties; or by order of a court.”
HRS 92F-14(4) prevents the release of “government records which, pursuant to state or federal law, including an order of any state or federal court, are protected from disclosure.”
HPD is scheduled to hold a public hearing Tuesday about rules for gun permits, licenses and registration, which it is updating after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June (808ne.ws/scop) that the Second Amendment gives individuals the right to carry a handgun for self- defense outside the home. Although the ruling directly affected New York, invalidating a law that only people who showed proper cause could carry concealed weapons, states with similarly strict rules, including Hawaii, moved to ease them after the high court decision.
States may continue to set objective criteria for obtaining a license, such as passing a background check, but not arbitrary guidelines that require applicants to distinguish themselves from the general public as having a special need to carry the gun. Also, states can continue to prohibit guns in “sensitive places,” the ruling said, such as schools, government buildings and other locations.
HPD’s public hearing will review proposed changes to Chapter 15 of the Rules of the Chief of Police, “Firearms Permits and Licenses.” Find a link to the draft rules at 808ne.ws/firearms, as well as information about the hearing, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in Conference Room A on the first floor of HPD’s Alapai Headquarters at 801 S. Beretania St.
Written testimony can be submitted by email ahead of time to HPDLTC@honolulu.gov.
If the draft rules are adopted without amendments, concealed carry licenses may be issued by the end of the month, according to news reports.
Q: Will they have the light parade this year?
A: Yes. The Electric Light Parade and Christmas tree- lighting ceremony are scheduled for Dec. 3, opening night of the Honolulu City Lights celebration, according to the event website, which promises more details to come. The annual holiday festival held at Honolulu Hale and the civic center grounds had been pared down the past two years because of the pandemic.
Mahalo
Mahalo to the kind woman in the pakalana shirt who found our car/house keys in the parking lot of Times in the Mililani Town Center. She was in line in the store to turn them in when she noticed my husband and I walking to our car, which was parked next to hers. She hurried out to catch us because she had found the keys on the ground between our two cars and thought that we may have dropped them even though the car key didn’t match the car we were using. We were in a bit of shock because we hadn’t even realized that we had lost them but we are so grateful to her for her kindness and want her to know how greatly we appreciate her thoughtfulness and caring. May her kindness be returned to her tenfold. — Grateful seniors
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
