Hawaii Firearm Laws: Permits, Carry Rules, and Penalties

Hawaii’s firearm laws are among the strictest in the United States: you need a county-issued permit before you can buy any gun, every firearm must be registered within five days, the minimum age for acquisition is 21, and carrying in public requires a separate license that still keeps guns out of most everyday locations. The rules apply to residents, new arrivals, and active-duty military stationed in the islands, and the penalties for getting them wrong are steep.

Who Can Own a Firearm

You must be at least 21 to acquire any firearm in Hawaii, whether it’s a handgun, rifle, or shotgun. A 2019 amendment extended that age floor to anyone bringing a firearm into the state to register it, and the same minimum applies to buying ammunition.¹²

State law bars firearm ownership for anyone convicted of a felony, a violent crime, a firearms-related offense, or illegal drug distribution, and the same prohibition applies while such charges are being prosecuted. Federal disqualifications under 18 U.S.C. § 922 also apply, covering fugitives, people subject to certain restraining orders, and those with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions.³ Anyone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility or found by a court to pose a danger to themselves or others is also disqualified. Restoring rights after a disqualification requires a court proceeding.

You generally must be a Hawaii resident to own firearms in the state, proved with a Hawaii driver’s license or state ID. Active-duty military members stationed in Hawaii qualify by presenting military orders and proof of duty assignment, and they go through the same permit and registration process as any other resident. New residents and arriving military must register any firearms they bring in within five days of arrival.⁴

One boundary worth stating outright: Hawaii does not recognize concealed carry permits from any other state. A permit you hold on the mainland does not travel with you.

Permits to Acquire and Registration

Every firearm purchase runs through the same pipeline: apply in person at your county police department for a permit to acquire, wait out the mandatory period, pass a background check, complete the purchase, then register the gun.

The application requires a government photo ID, proof of Hawaii residency, and a completed form identifying the firearm you intend to buy. You also sign a waiver allowing law enforcement to access your medical and mental health records. Handgun permits are issued for one firearm at a time. A long gun permit covers any number of rifles and shotguns bought within its validity period.¹

For a handgun, you must have completed an approved firearms safety course within the four years before the permit is issued. The course requires at least two hours of live-fire range training and at least four hours of classroom instruction covering safe handling, storage, state firearms law, and a mental health and suicide prevention component. An approved hunter education course satisfies the training requirement for rifles and shotguns.

No permit will be issued earlier than 14 calendar days after the application date, and this waiting period applies to all firearms. The issuing authority must either approve or deny the application within 20 days. During the wait, county police run your information through NICS, the National Crime Information Center, and state databases, checking criminal history, mental health records, and restraining orders.¹

Once issued, a handgun permit is valid for 30 days. Miss that window and you have to reapply. Long gun permits are valid for one year and allow multiple purchases during that period.⁵

After you complete the purchase, you have five days to register the firearm with the county police department. Registration involves bringing the gun in for physical inspection along with your proof of purchase and permit. There is generally no fee for the registration itself, but first-time applicants pay a one-time fingerprinting fee of about $42.⁴

The same five-day deadline applies to inherited firearms, and you still need a permit to acquire before taking possession. If the firearm has no serial number, the permit number must be engraved on the receiver before registration can be completed. Private transfers between individuals also run through the full permit and registration process. There is no friend or family exception.

Firearms and Accessories That Are Banned Outright

Even with a valid permit, several categories of firearms and accessories cannot be lawfully owned in Hawaii.

Automatic firearms and sound suppressors. Manufacturing, possessing, selling, or transferring either is a class C felony that carries a mandatory five-year prison term with no probation available.⁶
Bump fire stocks, multiburst trigger activators, and trigger cranks. Possession is a class C felony.⁷
Assault pistols, meaning semiautomatic handguns that accept a detachable magazine and have two or more military-style features (a threaded barrel, a barrel shroud, or an unloaded weight of 50 ounces or more). Since 1992, no assault pistol may be brought into the state or transferred except to a licensed dealer or the county police chief.⁶
Detachable magazines holding more than ten rounds designed for or compatible with a pistol. Simple possession is a misdemeanor; possession with the magazine inserted in a pistol is a class C felony.⁶

Hawaii has also enacted legislation prohibiting unserialized firearms assembled from kits or 3D-printed parts.

Storage and Transport

If you keep a firearm on premises you control and know (or should know) that a minor is likely to gain access, you must store the firearm in a securely locked container or a location a reasonable person would consider secure. The only alternative is keeping the firearm on your person or close enough that you can immediately retrieve it. For this rule, a minor is anyone under 18.⁸ If a minor gains access to a negligently stored firearm and causes harm, the owner can face criminal liability.

Vehicles have their own rule. Leaving a firearm in an unattended vehicle requires locking it in a safe storage container that is out of sight from outside the vehicle and that is impact-resistant, tamper-resistant, and secured with a key, keypad, or combination lock. A locked trunk or glove compartment does not satisfy the statute on its own.⁹ This is one of the rules people trip over most often. If you transport a firearm by car, plan on a compliant lockbox that anchors to the vehicle’s frame.

Concealed and Open Carry

Hawaii overhauled its carry system after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down laws requiring applicants to prove a special need for self-defense. The legislature converted concealed carry from a “may issue” system, where the county police chief had broad discretion to deny, to a “shall issue” system, where the chief must grant a license to any applicant who meets the statutory criteria.¹⁰

To qualify for a concealed carry license, you must:

Be at least 21 years old
Be a U.S. citizen, national, or lawful permanent resident, and a Hawaii resident
Not be disqualified from firearm ownership under state or federal law
Complete an approved training course covering live-fire exercises, situational awareness, conflict management, low-light firearm use, and the law on when deadly force is justified
Submit fingerprints for FBI and state database processing
Be the registered owner of the firearm the license will cover

¹¹

The county police chief can still deny a license if the applicant lacks the “essential character or temperament necessary to be entrusted with a firearm,” but that finding must rest on objective criteria. A license is valid for four years, with renewal requiring updated training and background screening. The initial application fee is $150 and renewal is $50.¹²

Open carry of handguns exists in the same statute but operates under a higher bar. An open carry applicant must still demonstrate urgency or need and show they are engaged in protecting life and property. Licenses are rarely granted to private citizens. Hawaii added a further layer in 2023: intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing alarm by failing to conceal a firearm, even briefly, is a petty misdemeanor, whether the firearm is loaded or not.

Where You Cannot Carry Even With a License

Hawaii’s list of prohibited locations expanded significantly after the 2023 overhaul and is broader than what most other states impose:¹³

Government property, including any building or office owned, leased, or used by the state or a county, courthouses, and adjacent parking areas
Hospitals, clinics, mental health facilities, nursing homes, and medical offices
Jails, prisons, and juvenile detention centers
Any establishment serving alcohol for on-premises consumption
Stadiums, movie theaters, concert halls, and sporting events at any level
Public libraries, their grounds, and their parking areas
Every public and private school, preschool, child care facility, college, and university campus
State and county parks, beaches, playgrounds, swimming pools, golf courses, tennis courts, and other public recreation areas
Shelters for unhoused individuals, domestic violence victims, or children
Polling places and voter service centers during elections

Private property owners and businesses can also prohibit firearms on their premises by posted sign or verbal notice. Violating a location restriction can bring misdemeanor or felony charges depending on the circumstances.

Self-Defense and the Duty to Retreat

Hawaii is a duty-to-retreat state. You generally cannot use deadly force if you know you can avoid the threat by safely withdrawing. Deadly force is legally justified only when you reasonably believe it is necessary to protect against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy. You cannot use deadly force if you provoked the confrontation, and you must retreat when it is possible to do so with complete safety.¹⁴

The major exception is the castle doctrine. You have no duty to retreat from your own home or your workplace. If someone attacks you in either location, you may use defensive force, including deadly force when the threat warrants it, without first attempting to flee. The workplace exception does not apply if you were the initial aggressor or if the attacker is a coworker.

Gun Violence Protective Orders

Hawaii’s red flag law allows a family court to temporarily remove firearms from someone who poses a risk. Eligible petitioners include law enforcement officers, family or household members, medical professionals who have examined the person (physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists), educators at an institution connected to the person, and coworkers.¹⁵

The process runs in two stages. A petitioner can first request an emergency ex parte order without prior notice to the respondent. If granted, the respondent must immediately stop possessing firearms and ammunition and surrender them. A full hearing follows within 14 days.¹⁶ If the court finds sufficient grounds at that hearing, it issues a one-year gun violence protective order barring the respondent from owning, purchasing, possessing, or controlling any firearm or ammunition for its duration.

Penalties for Violations

Possessing an unregistered pistol or revolver is a class B felony, carrying up to ten years in prison.¹⁷ Violating the general prohibition on firearm ownership (convicted felons, people with domestic violence convictions, those under federal disqualification) is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years. A convicted felon caught with a firearm faces the higher class B felony charge.³

Missing the five-day registration deadline, failing to store a firearm properly, and violating ammunition storage rules are misdemeanor-level offenses. Possessing an automatic firearm, silencer, bump stock, or trigger crank is a class C felony, and for automatic firearms and silencers the statute mandates a five-year prison term with no probation available.⁶

Using or possessing a firearm while committing a felony triggers mandatory minimum prison terms on top of the underlying sentence, and those minimums cannot be served on probation or parole:¹⁸

Class C felony: up to three additional years
Class B felony: up to five additional years
Class A felony: up to ten additional years
Second-degree murder or attempted murder: up to fifteen additional years

Using a semiautomatic or automatic firearm during any felony roughly doubles the mandatory add-on. A class B felony committed with a semiautomatic weapon, for example, carries a mandatory minimum of ten years on top of the base sentence. Providing false information on a firearm application or attempting to buy a gun while disqualified can result in criminal charges and a permanent ban on future ownership.

1
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-2 – Permits to Acquire
2
Honolulu Police Department. Firearms
3
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-7 – Ownership, Possession, or Control Prohibited, When; Penalty
4
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-3 – Registration, Mandatory, Exceptions
5
Hawaiʻi Police Department. Firearm Services
6
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-8 – Ownership, Etc., of Automatic Firearms, Silencers, Etc., Prohibited; Penalties
7
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-8.5 – Bump Fire Stock, Multiburst Trigger Activator, or Trigger Crank; Prohibition
8
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-10.5 – Storage of Firearm; Responsibility With Respect to Minors
9
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-9.3 – Leaving Unsecured Firearm in Vehicle Unattended; Penalty
10
Supreme Court of the United States. Wilson v. Hawaii – Statement of Justice Thomas
11
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-9 – Licenses to Carry
12
Hawaiʻi Police Department. License to Carry Firearm Applicant Information
13
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-9.1 – Carrying or Possessing a Firearm in Certain Places
14
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 703-304 – Use of Force in Self-Protection
15
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-61 – Definitions
16
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 134-64 – Ex Parte Gun Violence Protective Order
17
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 706-660 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Class B and C Felonies
18
Justia. Hawaii Revised Statutes 706-660.1 – Sentence of Imprisonment for Use of a Firearm in a Felony