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Child Access Prevention

Hawaii prohibits persons from storing firearms on property they control when they know or reasonably should know that a minor (a person under the age of 18) is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian of the minor, unless:

  • The firearm is kept in a securely locked box or container or in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secure; or
  • The firearm is carried on the person or within such close proximity thereto that the person readily can retrieve and use it as if it were carried on the person.1

Under state law, a person commits the offense of “criminally negligent storage of a firearm” when a minor obtains a firearm as a result of the person’s violation of state law.2 Criminally negligent storage of a firearm is a misdemeanor.3 If the minor obtains the firearm as a result of unlawful entry to any premises by any person, the owner of the firearm is not criminally liable.4

Safe Storage

Hawaii has no law that requires unattended firearms to be stored in a certain way.

Hawaii does not require a locking device to accompany the sale of a firearm, although federal law applies, and no state statutes require firearm owners to affirmatively lock their weapons.

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Our experts can speak to the full spectrum of gun violence prevention issues. Have a question? Email us at media@giffords.org.

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  1. Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 134-10.5. Previously, this provision defined a “minor” as a person under the age of 16; in 2021, Hawaii enacted a law raising the age to 18. Haw. H. 31 (2021).[]
  2. Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 707-714.5; see also, Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 134-10.5.[]
  3. Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 707-714.5(3).[]
  4. Haw. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 707-714.5(2).[]