Guns

[oink]

It sounds like officials might get carried away with their gun free zone restrictions like some jurisdictions are doing. Unfortunately those that go too far will likely end up back at SCOTUS where the ability to make State and local restrictions may be seriously curtailed. The smart thing would be to make restrictions that are reasonable and can be fully justified so as to not trigger more SCOTUS intervention.

At this point it doesn't sound like Hawaii County is in any rush to approve CCW permits.

Currently I don't really need a CCW permit due to being a retired LEO but maintaining my certification under "The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act" does require a yearly qualification not required by most State CCW laws. Unfortunately the qualification is good for exactly one year from the last qualifications. It would be much more convenient if it was a more general once per calendar year. Those are National rules as specified by The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act. At least it's good nationwide.

Most if not all State CCW permits are good for multiple years many with no requalification requirement.
Some with no qualification requirement at all. I have no idea what the State of Hawaii is coming up with or if it will continue to be left to the Counties. Some statewide consistency would be nice.

Fortunately the relatively recent implementation of many CCW permit laws in a number of States has not resulted in the great increase of carnage by permit holders that was predicted by some. Hopefully Hawaii will also adapt well and peacefully to CCW permit implementation. It has been my observation that having a CCW permit and legally carrying a firearm generally makes permit holders more responsible and more likely to try to avoid unnecessary confrontations rather than to feel emboldened to engage. Of course there are always a few stupid people that slip through the cracks.

While still actively employed as a LEO in FL I did revoke and return to the State 3 CCW permits held by residents, basically for being stupid. I did send in with the seized permits a good deal of documentation justifying my actions. I never suffered any repercussions from my actions. I actually never heard anything back from the State at all. As far as I know the people never got their permits back but I don't really know. The laws/rules on that procedure were pretty grey (short of a felony arrest or domestic violence) and may still be. I kinda had to figure it out on my own. Hopefully Hawaii will do a little better on that.

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How about permits only issuing to citizens without any criminal history?

While there may be some variation between the States, you can't get a permit with a felony conviction or domestic violence conviction. Only citizens or legal resident aliens are eligible for CCW permits. So that is pretty well covered already.