Can You Own a Gun in Hawaii? Permits, Training, and Storage

Yes, you can own a gun in Hawaii, but the state runs one of the strictest permitting and registration systems in the country. Every firearm requires a county-issued permit to acquire before purchase and must be registered with the county police within five days. Adults who meet the eligibility rules, complete the required training, and follow the process can lawfully own handguns, rifles, and shotguns.

Who Is Eligible

Under HRS 134-2, you must be at least 21 years old and a United States citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident to receive a permit to acquire a firearm.¹ You also have to be a Hawaii resident, because the county police chief issues permits based on your home or business address.

Non-citizens who are not lawful permanent residents have narrow options. An alien 18 or older with a valid Hawaii hunting license can get a permit for rifles and shotguns for up to 60 days. An alien 21 or older training for an organized sport-shooting contest can obtain a permit for up to six months.¹

HRS 134-7 permanently bars several categories from possessing any firearm or ammunition. You cannot own a gun if you have been convicted of a felony, a crime of violence, a firearms offense, or illegal drug distribution, in Hawaii or elsewhere. The same applies while you are being prosecuted for any of those offenses.²

Mental health and substance history also disqualify. You are prohibited if you have been treated for addiction to drugs or alcohol, acquitted of a crime on mental health grounds, or diagnosed with a condition that impairs judgment or impulse control to a degree that creates an unreasonable public safety risk. Anyone adjudicated as meeting the criteria for involuntary hospitalization or found to be an incapacitated person is also barred, unless medical documentation shows the condition no longer applies.²

Federal law adds one more line. Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition nationwide under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9), regardless of state eligibility.³

Getting a Permit to Acquire

You cannot take possession of any firearm in Hawaii without a permit to acquire from the chief of police in your county. You apply in person. The county runs a background check covering warrants, arrest history, convictions, pending cases, and restraining orders. The background check fee is $42.⁴

A handgun permit covers a single purchase and expires if not used within 10 days. A long gun permit is valid for one year and covers multiple purchases during that window. Processing typically takes 14 to 40 days, depending on county and application volume.

Registering the Firearm

Every firearm in Hawaii must be registered. If you acquire a gun through the permit process, you have five days from acquisition to register it with your county police department. If you bring a firearm into the state from elsewhere, you have five days after your arrival, or the firearm’s arrival, whichever is later, to register it and submit it for physical inspection.⁵

Registration involves fingerprinting and photographing at the county police department, though that step is waived if your prints are already on file. The police run a background check through the National Crime Information Center and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System before approving the registration. Standard registration is free. Firearms brought in from out of state are subject to a processing fee.⁵

If you permanently move firearms out of Hawaii, you must notify the county police within five days. Missing that notice costs $100 per firearm.

Training You Have to Complete

For a permit to acquire, you need proof of a firearms safety or hunter education course. For handguns, that means a handgun safety training course affidavit. For rifles and shotguns, a hunter education card works. Either document must have been issued within the four years before you apply.⁴

Carry licenses require a much more demanding course, but the acquisition course is a one-time hurdle for basic ownership.

What You Can and Cannot Own

Hawaii permits handguns (revolvers and semi-automatic pistols), rifles, and shotguns. Standard bolt-action, lever-action, and semi-automatic long guns are all legal if they meet barrel length and overall size rules. Semi-automatic handguns are legal unless they qualify as assault pistols under state law.

Detachable pistol magazines are capped at 10 rounds. Magazines originally designed for more than 10 rounds but permanently modified to hold no more than 10, and unable to be readily restored, are allowed.⁶

HRS 134-8 prohibits possessing, manufacturing, or selling fully automatic firearms, rifles with barrels under 16 inches, shotguns with barrels under 18 inches, silencers, grenades, bombs, armor-piercing ammunition, and exploding or segmenting ammunition. The state also bans a category it calls “assault pistols,” defined by a combination of features under HRS 134-1.⁶

One boundary matters for anyone coming from a more permissive state: Hawaii offers no path to private ownership of machine guns, even with federal NFA registration. The federal grandfather clause for pre-1986 machine guns does not open a door here because state law bans them outright.⁷

Storing Firearms at Home

Under HRS 134-10.5, if you know or should know a minor is likely to gain access to a firearm on your property, you must either store the firearm in a securely locked container or location a reasonable person would consider secure, or keep it on your person or close enough to readily retrieve and use. For this statute, a minor is anyone under 18.⁸

Carrying and Transporting Your Gun

Owning a firearm in Hawaii does not by itself let you carry it around. Without a carry license, HRS 134-25 limits where you can take a pistol or revolver. It must be unloaded and inside an enclosed container, meaning a rigidly constructed receptacle or commercially manufactured gun case that fully encloses the firearm. Authorized trips include travel between your home, a repair shop, a target range, a licensed dealer, a gun show, a training facility, or a police station.⁹ Similar rules apply to rifles and shotguns under HRS 134-23. Leaving a gun in your car while you run errands, or detouring on the way to the range, can put you outside the statute.

After the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, Hawaii moved to shall-issue concealed carry. If you are at least 21, pass the background check, are not prohibited under HRS 134-7, complete the carry training course, and can show the character and temperament to be entrusted with a firearm, the county police chief must issue a license. The carry training course is far more involved than the acquisition course, covering safe handling, storage, vehicle transport, prohibited locations, low-light use, situational awareness, conflict management, deadly force law, and a mental health component. You must pass a written exam with at least 70 percent and complete live-fire exercises with each firearm you want to carry. Open carry remains rare and requires showing urgent need related to protecting life or property. The initial license fee is $150, with a $50 renewal per firearm.¹⁰

Even with a valid carry license, HRS 134-9.1 bars firearms from a long list of places, and adjacent parking areas are usually included:

State and county buildings, including courthouses and legislative buildings
Hospitals, clinics, mental health facilities, nursing homes, medical offices, and urgent care centers
Public and private schools, preschools, child care facilities, and college campuses
Jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers
Bars and restaurants that serve alcohol for on-site consumption
Stadiums, movie theaters, concert halls, and sporting event venues
Beaches, playgrounds, state and county parks, golf courses, pools, and tennis courts, with an exception for authorized shooting ranges
Public libraries, including grounds and parking
Shelters for unhoused people, domestic violence victims, or children
Polling places and voter service centers

Carrying into any of these places while licensed is itself a criminal offense.¹¹

Bringing Firearms to Hawaii

Whether you are moving here or visiting with a gun, you must register every firearm with the county police within five days of arrival. That process includes fingerprinting, photographing, and a background check. An out-of-state registration does not carry over.⁵

If you fly in, TSA rules require firearms to be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided container, and declared at the airline ticket counter as checked baggage. Firearms and ammunition cannot go in carry-on luggage, and the case has to fully prevent access.¹²

Nonresident aliens can bring firearms into Hawaii for up to 90 days with a valid Hawaii hunting license, a written invitation to shoot on private land, or written confirmation from a shooting range. They may register no more than 10 firearms and cannot transfer those registrations.⁵

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Hawaii treats most firearm offenses as felonies, and the exposure is steeper than many owners expect. Under HRS 134-25, carrying or possessing a pistol or revolver outside your home, business, or sojourn without following the transport rules or holding a carry license is a class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.⁹ Carrying or possessing a loaded rifle or shotgun outside authorized places is also a class B felony under HRS 134-23.¹³ The gun can be legally owned and properly registered; simply having it in the wrong place is enough.

Possessing any weapon banned under HRS 134-8, including assault pistols, fully automatic firearms, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, or silencers, is a class C felony carrying up to five years in prison without probation. Possessing a prohibited magazine over 10 rounds is a misdemeanor; possessing one while inserted in a pistol becomes a class C felony.⁶

Improperly storing or keeping ammunition outside authorized locations under HRS 134-27 is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail.¹⁴ If you fall into a prohibited category under HRS 134-7 and are caught with a firearm or ammunition, you face a class B felony on the first offense and a class A felony, up to 20 years, on any subsequent one.²

1
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-2 – Permits to Acquire
2
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-7 – Ownership, Possession, or Control Prohibited, When; Penalty
3
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions
4
Honolulu Police Department. About the Honolulu Police Department Firearms Unit
5
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-3 – Registration, Mandatory, Exceptions
6
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-8 – Ownership, Etc. of Automatic Firearms, Silencers, Etc., Prohibited; Penalties
7
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act
8
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-10.5 – Storage of Firearm; Responsibility With Respect to Minors
9
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-25 – Place to Keep Pistol or Revolver; Penalty
10
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-9 – Licenses to Carry
11
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-9.1 – Carrying or Possessing a Firearm in a Prohibited Location
12
Transportation Security Administration. Transporting Firearms and Ammunition
13
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-23 – Place to Keep Loaded Firearms Other Than Pistols and Revolvers; Penalty
14
Justia. Hawaii Code 134-27 – Place to Keep Ammunition; Penalty