Do we really want someone who is on the FBI’s terrorist watch list to be able to legally possess a gun in Hawaii?
House Bill 1813 temporarily prohibits a person listed in the federal Terrorist Screening Database from owning, possessing, or controlling a firearm or ammunition in Hawaii.
The bill also provides for the removal of the disqualification when they are taken off the “terrorist watch list.”
I introduced this bill as a measured and reasonable response to the potential threat presented by someone on the watch list having easy and legal access to guns.
It was supported by numerous state agencies and private nonprofit organizations.
Moreover, in the Star-
Advertiser’s own Big Q survey — while a self-selected poll and not a scientific one — the bill was supported by 86 percent of those who responded.
In addition, a Quinnipiac University poll from December 2015 showed that the bill’s concept was supported by 83 percent of those polled nationwide.
The watch list is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Terrorist Screening Center.
A number of federal agencies can make recommendations, but must provide an objective, factual basis to believe an individual is a known or suspected terrorist.
This bill reasonably assumes that any individual included on the FBI’s terrorist watch list poses a serious and potentially threatening risk to public safety and warrants disqualification from firearms ownership, possession, or control under Hawaii law.
More important, I believe the threat is a real one for Hawaii, which is a key point of entry into the U.S. for millions of international travelers.
According to the U.S. Accountability Office — an audit, evaluation and investigative arm of Congress — individuals on the watch list have attempted to purchase firearms from gun dealers in the U.S. at least 2,233 times and have succeeded in 91 percent of those attempts.
In drafting the bill, we did recognize that individuals may be placed on the list for only a short time, and we did amend the measure to address this reality, allowing individuals who are subsequently removed from the list to be allowed to possess or own firearms, as long as they follow the legal requirements for possession of a firearm required by everyone else.
Moreover, the legal case that the Star-Advertiser cited in its editorial (“(Most) firearms bills reasonable,” Our View, March 11) does, in fact, support the FBI’s mandate (and consequently HB 1813) to protect public safety by utilizing the watch list.
Said the federal judge, “The Executive Branch must be free to maintain its watchlists in secret, just as federal agents must be able to maintain in secret its investigations into organized crime, drug trafficking organizations … and so forth. … Once concrete, reviewable adverse action is taken against a target, then there is and will be time enough to determine what post-deprivation process is due the individual affected.”
The point is that the federal government spends billions every year identifying suspected terrorists and shares that information with local law enforcement agencies.
In spite of this, we presently have no legal justifica-
tion for denying suspected terrorists a firearms license.
We know suspected terrorists buy and use guns. It would be foolish and naïve to believe the risk presented by such individuals legally possessing guns does not present a clear danger to all in Hawaii, residents and visitors alike.
When we understand the risks and threat involved and do not take steps to minimize that threat in ways that are within our reach, it would not only be foolish but irresponsible on our part not to take such action.
State Rep. Karl Rhoads is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
