PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Is Hawaiian Government Basically Stealing From Gun Owners? :: 03/21/2019
I see a lot of states pulling a lot of stunts, but this morning I learned of something that really leaves me scratching my head.
It seems the State of Hawaii has a requirement for all gun owners to register their gun with the FBI. The problem is that a fee is charged for the “service” and then, it seems, it’s never provided.
State of Hawaii Steals Millions of Dollars From Gun Owners State of Hawaii collects fees associated with…
Posted by Hawaii Firearms Coalition on Thursday, March 21, 2019
Basically, they fingerprint each and every person owning a firearm, then send that fingerprint to the FBI where it’s supposed to be input into a database.
While the FBI historically returned all fingerprint data, Rap Back creates the means to hold onto them indefinitely. That means undergoing an FBI background check for a job plugs you in a database used to find criminals.
In theory, Hawaii will send a gun owner’s fingerprints into this database as well.
There’s just a couple of problems with that.
First is the fact that it requires people to do this. The Rap Back is supposed to be voluntary. While you may have to supply fingerprints for a job, you’re not required to have that job. Other employers have no interest in conducting an FBI background check, after all. You have options.
For gun owners in Hawaii, though, that option doesn’t exist. You either submit the fingerprints or you find yourself in violation of state law which requires a gun to be registered within a certain timeframe.
That’s far from voluntary.
Yet if that’s all that was happening, it would be enough. It’s not, though.
But the problem is that the data has been collected, as has the fee, but the system isn’t up and running.
Firearm owners are being charged these fees due to the state’s requirement that they pay for the Rap Back service to be provided to them. So far, no service is being provided. It has been more than two years and we’re being led to believe that it will never be available. WHY are they still being charged? Why would you collect funds for a service that’s not available? It’s like paying an electricity bill, but not being hooked up the grid.
If I took money for a “service” I wasn’t providing, that would be theft and I’d likely go to jail for it. As I should.
So what’s the deal?
Well, there are a number of possibilities, but part of it may be the FBI told the state of Hawaii to go pound sand. After all, the state is basically using a federal database to register gun owners. That could be considered a federal gun registry.
Couple that with the fact that Hawaii is requiring this for people attempting to exercise a constitutionally protected right, and you’ve got a recipe for the FBI to say, “Nope.”
Make no mistake, either. This is the state trying to punish gun owners and nothing more.
If it was really about finding criminals, they’d place this requirement on things like drivers licenses and marriage licenses. Instead, it only targets gun owners. Why? Because anti-gun lawmakers in the state are convinced gun owners are all criminals and terrorists, despite any evidence to the contrary.
Meanwhile, they’re the ones taking money for a “service” not being provided.
Someone needs to answer for this.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2019/03/21/hawaiian-government-basically-stealing-gun-owners/
