Hawai’i County Passes First Law Regulating Where Firearms Can Be Carried In State

HAWAI’I COUNTY, HAWAII — The Hawai’i County Council bill limiting the places a concealed carry firearm can be carried went into effect Dec 9, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.

The bill, Bill 220, makes Hawai’i County the first in the state to pass legislation regulating where firearms can be carried with a valid permit, according to Big Island Now.

The bill comes after and explicitly alludes to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling from earlier this year that struck down a New York gun law mandating people demonstrate a specific need to carry a handgun in public in order to get their concealed carry license – it was found to be in violation of the Second Amendment.

However, the Supreme Court also said that places that have been historically viewed as “sensitive places” can be restricted for carry, and the Supreme Court did not say it would try to limit those places.

Hawai’i County defined those sensitive places as the following:

• Hospitals, medical facilities, medical offices and/or medical clinics, except where permission is granted to such a person by the administrator of the facility.
• Schools, colleges, universities and/or places where people are assembled for educational purposes, except where permission is granted to such a person by the institution.
• Day care centers, playgrounds and parks, except where permission is granted to such a person by the administrator of the facility.
• Churches or religious assemblies, except where permission is granted by the administrator of the church, facility or congregation.
• Voter service centers or places of deposit.
• Government buildings and the accompanying parking lots attached to such buildings, except when the licensed firearm is kept in the vehicle unloaded with an affixed trigger lock or in a locked case.
• Private property open to the public where it is conspicuously posted that public carry of firearms is not allowed.
• Public transit facilities and public transit vehicles.
• Bars, restaurants and establishments that serve intoxicating beverages.
• Places where people are assembled for an event, social gathering, rally, demonstration or public exhibition where it is conspicuously posted by the organizers that public carry of firearms is not allowed.

Bill 220 also prohibited the carrying of firearms by an intoxicated person, and created a duty to inform law enforcement officers by armed individuals that they are carrying firearms.

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