Report Title:

Firearms; Ammunition

 

Description:

Prohibits importation, manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any .50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle or .50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge.

 


THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1336

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO FIREARMS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 134-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

     "".50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge" means a cartridge that includes a ball, tracer, incendiary, armor piercing, armor piercing incendiary, armor piercing incendiary tracer, and saboted light armor penetrator and is designed and intended to be fired from a center fire rifle and that meets all of the following criteria:

     (1)  An overall length of 5.54 inches from base to the tip of the bullet;

     (2)  The bullet diameter for the cartridge is from .510 to and including .511 inches;

     (3)  The case base diameter for the cartridge is from .800 inches to and including .804 inches; and

     (4)  A cartridge length of 3.91 inches.

     ".50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle" means a center fire rifle that can fire a .50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge but does not include:

     (1)  A weapon defined as an automatic firearm in section 134-1;

     (2)  Any antique firearm as defined in this section; or

     (3)  Any curio or relic as those terms are used in 18 United States Code section 921(16) or 27 Code of Federal Regulations 178.11."

     SECTION 2.  Section 134-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§134-8  Ownership, etc., of automatic firearms, silencers, etc., prohibited; penalties.  (a)  The manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any of the following is prohibited:  assault pistols, except as provided by section 134-4(e); automatic firearms; rifles with barrel lengths less than sixteen inches; shotguns with barrel lengths less than eighteen inches; cannons; mufflers, silencers, or devices for deadening or muffling the sound of discharged firearms; hand grenades, dynamite, blasting caps, bombs, or bombshells, or other explosives; or any type of ammunition or any projectile component thereof coated with teflon or any other similar coating designed primarily to enhance its capability to penetrate metal or pierce protective armor; and any type of ammunition or any projectile component thereof designed or intended to explode or segment upon impact with its target.

     (b)  Any person who installs, removes, or alters a firearm part with the intent to convert the firearm to an automatic firearm shall be deemed to have manufactured an automatic firearm in violation of subsection (a).

     (c)  The manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of detachable ammunition magazines with a capacity in excess of ten rounds which are designed for or capable of use with a pistol is prohibited.  This subsection shall not apply to magazines originally designed to accept more than ten rounds of ammunition which have been modified to accept no more than ten rounds and which are not capable of being readily restored to a capacity of more than ten rounds.

     (d)  After July 1, 2009, no person shall bring or cause to be brought into the State a .50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle or .50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridges.  No .50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle or .50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridge may be sold or transferred on or after July 1, 2009, to anyone within the State other than a dealer licensed under section 134-31 or the chief of police of any county; provided that any person who obtains title by bequest or intestate succession to a .50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle registered within the State, within sixty days, shall render the weapon permanently inoperable, sell or transfer the weapon to a licensed dealer or the chief of police of any county, or remove the weapon from the State.

     (e)  Except as provided by this section, the manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any .50 caliber Browning machine gun rifle or .50 caliber Browning machine gun cartridges are prohibited.  This includes the following types of ammunition:  ball, tracer, incendiary, armor piercing, armor piercing incendiary, armor piercing incendiary tracer, or saboted light armor penetrator.

     [(d)] (f)  Any person violating subsection (a) or (b) shall be guilty of a class C felony and shall be imprisoned for a term of five years without probation.  Any person violating subsection (c) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor except when a detachable magazine prohibited under this section is possessed while inserted into a pistol in which case the person shall be guilty of a class C felony.  Any person violating subsection (d) or (e) shall be guilty of a class B felony and shall be imprisoned for a term of ten years without probation."

     SECTION 3.  This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun, before its effective date.

     SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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