Hawaii Dems Put Two Terrible Bills on Ice After Pushback From Gun Owners and Others

As we reported on Monday, Hawaii Democrats brought a trio of terrible bills before the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs this week, including a measure we labeled the “Gun Maker Extortion Act,” which would require any firearms company that wants to sell its products in the state to pay into something called the “Firearm Injury Restitution Fund” and possess a “valid firearm injury cost recovery license.” 

After pushback from gun owners and other stakeholders, the committee indefinitely deferred a vote on SB 2720, which means the bill is effectively dead for the year. Second Amendment advocates were also successful in putting another bill on ice; one that would have essentially banned the open carry of bladed arms. Under SB 433, anyone openly carrying a knife or other bladed weapon could be arrested and charged, and it would be up to them to prove that what they were carrying is in common use for self-defense. 

A number of entities and individuals spoke in opposition to the measure, including law enforcement and public defenders along with the Hawaii Firearms Coalition. In its testimony, the HFC argued that the bill “attempts to mitigate its sweeping prohibitions by creating limited affirmative defenses.” 

Those defenses do not cure the underlying constitutional defects of the bill. An affirmative defense does not prevent arrest, does not meaningfully constrain enforcement discretion, and does not provide clear guidance to ordinary citizens attempting to comply with the law. Instead, it requires an individual to assert constitutional protection only after being charged with a crime.

Under SB433, the open carrying of protected non-firearm arms is criminalized as a default rule. Lawful conduct becomes presumptively illegal, and constitutional protection is relegated to a post hoc defense raised in court. This structure reverses the proper constitutional order. The Second Amendment limits the State’s authority to criminalize protected conduct in the first instance; it does not permit the State to prohibit that conduct broadly and rely on courtroom defenses to justify enforcement.

The bill’s affirmative defenses are further undermined by their own limiting conditions. The “common use” defense is unavailable if a person displays a weapon with the intent to cause alarm or acts in reckless disregard of the risk that others may be alarmed. These standards are inherently subjective. The mere visible presence of a weapon, carried openly and lawfully, may cause alarm to a member of the public regardless of the carrier’s intent. Whether that reaction is deemed foreseeable or reckless will necessarily depend on the subjective judgment of individual officers and prosecutors.

The Hawaii Firearms Coalition says SB 433 probably posed the biggest threat to the right to keep and bear arms out of all the bills introduced in the state this year, but there are still several pieces of legislation that are still alive and kicking that also impact our 2A rights. 

ACTION ALERT – TESTIMONY DEADLINE APPROACHING
House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs (JHA) Hearing – Thursday, February 5

Two firearm-related bills are scheduled for a hearing. HIFICO urges the public to submit testimony in opposition to both bills.

IMPORTANT DEADLINE
Written… pic.twitter.com/l1M2TPTA3i

— Hawaii Firearms Coalition (HIFICO) (@hificoorg) February 4, 2026

I’d be shocked if the bill appropriating public funds for “gun buybacks” in every county doesn’t become law, and I’m very concerned that the bill expanding the state’s “red flag” law by appropriating funds to the judiciary to “enforce gun violence protective orders,” and to the Department of Law Enforcement to “conduct public awareness campaigns to educate Hawaii residents on gun violence, safety, intervention, and prevention through gun violence protective order laws” will also be adopted. 

There’s also SB 3039, a bizarre bill that “prohibits persons with a license to carry a firearm from carrying a firearm on the licensee’s person without also carrying an electric gun on the licensee’s person.” If you don’t carry a stun gun while exercising your right to bear arms, you could have your carry permit revoked. 

SB 3039 has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs, but no date for a hearing has been scheduled. Hopefully this bill is just quietly left in limbo, but given the anti-2A animosity from many lawmakers, that’s far from guaranteed. 

Editor’s Note: Second Amendment supporters across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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