Hawaii's
governor signed a bill making it the first state to place its residents who own
firearms in a federal criminal record database and monitor them for possible
wrongdoing anywhere in the country, his office said.
The move by gun control
proponents in the liberal state represents an effort to institute some limits
on firearms in the face of a bitter national debate over guns that this week
saw Democratic lawmakers stage a sit-in at the U.S. House of Representatives.
Hawaii Governor David Ige, a
Democrat, on Thursday signed into law a bill to have police in the state enroll
people into an FBI criminal monitoring service after they register their
firearms as already required, his office said in a statement.
The Federal Bureau of
Investigation database called "Rap Back" will allow Hawaii police to
be notified when a firearm owner from the state is arrested anywhere in the
United States.
Hawaii has become the first
U.S. state to place firearm owners on the FBI's Rap Back, which until now was
used to monitor criminal activities by individuals under investigation or
people in positions of trust such as school teachers and daycare workers
"As you can imagine, the
NRA finds this one of the most extreme bills we've ever seen," said Amy
Hunter, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association's institute for
legislative action.
The law could affect gun
owners outside Hawaii, because the state requires visitors carrying guns to
register, Hunter said.
As a result, they could be
added to "Rap Back" because they arrived in the state with a gun, she
said. The Hawaii attorney general's office said a weapon-carrying visitor
should be able to petition for removal from the national database after leaving
the state.
Hawaii state Senator Will
Espero, a Democrat who co-authored the law and owns a gun, called it
"common sense legislation that does not hurt anyone."
The law, which takes effect
immediately, allows police in Hawaii to evaluate whether a firearm owner should
continue to possess a gun after being arrested.
"It just means local
police will be notified," Espero said in a phone interview.
Ige's office said he also signed
into law two other firearms bills. One makes convictions for stalking and
sexual assault among the criminal offenses disqualifying a person from gun
ownership. The other requires firearm owners to surrender their weapons if
diagnosed with a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder.
(Reporting by Alex
Dobuzinskis; Editing by David Gregorio and Ed Davies)
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