Honolulu City Council adds school buses, preschools to concealed gun ban bill already including schools

A bill that would limit people on Oʻahu from carrying concealed guns in sensitive places such as K-12 schools expanded to include school buses, preschools, and universities Tuesday as the Honolulu City Council approved the measure that is poised for a final vote later this month.

The council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee, made up of all nine of its members, advanced a committee draft of Bill 57 in a 5-3 vote Tuesday afternoon. The full council is expected to pass the measure on third and final reading at its next full council meeting on March 15. If approved, the bill will be sent to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who can sign it into law, allow it to become law without his signature, or veto the proposal.

The original proposal would ban legally permitted guns in sensitive places, like schools, parks, public transportation, and government buildings. It would also allow private businesses and nonprofit organizations to post signs that say whether guns are allowed or not.

A new version of the bill approved by a majority of the council Tuesday would expand the gun ban to:

• School buses, preschools, colleges, and universities. (K-12 schools were already covered in the initial version of the bill.)
• Any public or private hospital, mental health facility, nursing home, clinic, medical office, urgent care facility, or other places at which medical or health services are customarily provided.
• Any non-confidential shelter or residential facility serving persons experiencing homelessness or victims of domestic violence.
• Any bar serving “alcohol” or “intoxicating liquor” for consumption on the premises.

HSTA president: ‘We cannot have guns in school settings’

Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association President Osa Tui, Jr. testified in favor of the proposal Tuesday.

“In this place of aloha, we have to make sure that our keiki are protected to the greatest extent possible. Gun violence, especially in school settings, has escalated on the continent and these measures will help to clarify that we here in the city and county of Honolulu want to keep our keiki safe,” Tui told council members.

“Earlier this month, it came to light that a district superintendent in Texas left his gun that he was mandated to carry by state law in a school bathroom and a third grader came upon it,” Tui added.

“We cannot have guns in school settings. Pass this rational amendment to further clarify the definition of sensitive places. Our keiki and members of our school communities are depending on you,” Tui concluded.

HSTA’s policy on weapons-free schools says: “The Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association believes that all students and education employees must be allowed to learn and work in an environment free of unauthorized guns and other deadly weapons.”

The National Education Association, HSTA’s parent union, has a clear policy supporting common sense gun regulation to try to keep students and educators safe from firearms.

“Every student deserves to feel safe at school,” NEA’s gun violence policy says.

“Students can’t learn if they feel unsafe or if they are dealing with trauma from incidents that happen outside school grounds or are worried about how to get home safely,” NEA’s policy reads. “To keep students safe—in our schools and in our communities— we must limit access to guns in the first place by providing universal background checks, banning assault-style weapons, passing red flag laws, and other legislation.”

Gun rights advocates assailed the council proposal as an attack on second amendment rights. Some gun owners testified they want to carry guns to be able to protect others. Others claimed they would still carry concealed weapons to these sensitive locations even if the bill becomes law.

Police chief says citizens should not carry weapons to help law enforcement

Councilmember Esther Kiaʻāina, who supports the additional gun restrictions, asked Honolulu Police Chief Joe Logan: “Many have testified that they want to carry weapons to protect others. In the event of a shooting at a school, which is an example that was referenced by testifiers, would it be helpful for the HPD if civilians were carrying weapons to assist the HPD?”

Logan said, “We’re asking that civilians not carry weapons in support or in assistance of HPD.”

“If you are referring to a mass shooting at a school, we prefer to do that without the assistance of anyone else,” Logan added.

Countering testimony from gun enthusiasts who said they could protect others by bringing firearms into public facilities, Daniel Gluck, city deputy corporation counsel, said “the Supreme Court is quite clear that the right to carry (firearms) outside the home is for self-defense, not defense of others.”

Gluck said there are 15 to 20 states that prohibit people to carry or use firearms “while intoxicated, again analogizing to bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.”

Alaska, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee are among the states that have prohibitions against taking firearms into daycare facilities, Gluck said.

The Blangiardi administration opposed Councilmember Andria Tupola’s proposed amendment that removed some areas from protection. The council did not approve her amendment.

“I still feel this bill is way too broad,” Tupola said.

Councilmembers Augie Tulba and Val Okimoto joined Tupola in opposing the amended bill.

Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam chairs the Council’s Executive Matters and Legal Affairs Committee and wrote the new version of the bill with added restrictions.

“This is an incredibly complex topic and we are in a moving legal environment right now, whether that be at the state legislature, whether that be in the various court venues across this country and possibly even at the Supreme Court of the United States,” Dos Santos-Tam told councilmembers before their vote Tuesday afternoon.

Dos Santos-Tam said the council wants to “pass a bill that includes the sensitive places that we’ve articulated but doesn’t make it so onerous that people are going to get inadvertently cited left and right.”

Telegraphing that Blangiardi might sign the bill, Deputy Managing Director Krishna Jayaram told council members, “We do believe a robust, sensitive places bill is most protective.”

Earlier last month, Blangiardi appeared at another council meeting to make a strong pitch for the legislation. Blangiardi told council members that Hawaiʻi “has a history of being a gun-free culture for more than 170 years,” and said he believes that what he called “common sense” restrictions will protect people’s safety.

Supreme Court ruling prompts additional review of firearms restrictions at state, county levels

Democratic-controlled Hawaiʻi must review its gun restrictions at the state and county levels following a 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last June that expanded gun owners’ rights to carry firearms outside the home. The ruling, referred to as “Bruen” after Kevin P. Bruen, a New York state police official, found that a New York gun law passed in 1911 was unconstitutional.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Honolulu was forced to revise its concealed carry gun permit to allow licensed gun owners to carry guns in public places. About 30 people in Honolulu have obtained licenses to do so since last year. Another 400 applicants have applied for licenses, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

So far, only the County of Hawaiʻi has enacted a sensitive places law in the state, banning guns from certain facilities including hospitals, schools and daycare centers among other places. Maui and Kauaʻi county leaders are considering enacting their own sensitive places restrictions.

State lawmakers are considering a number of gun safety proposals that will apply statewide. The current legislative session ends in May.