HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES BILL PROHIBITING MULTIBURST TRIGGERS ON GUNS

'Bump stock' use would be illegal to keep, sell or possess in Hawaiʻi

With a unanimous vote, the House of Representatives Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce today passed House Bill 1908 HD2 which would prohibit multiburst triggers on firearms also known as "bump stocks."

This bill would amend current law so that any person in this State who manufactures or causes to be manufactured, imports into the State, keeps for sale, or offers or exposes for sale, or who gives, lends, or possesses any multiburst trigger activator shall be guilty of a class C felony.

"In light of the recent shooting tragedies in Florida and Las Vegas, we must be proactive in prohibiting weapons that are used to murder people," said Rep. Roy M. Takumi (Pearl City, Mānana, Waipi‘o), Chair of the Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee. "This bill is a positive step toward that goal."

At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last week, 17 people were killed by a gunman. On October 1, 2017, a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers at a music festival in Las Vegas leaving 58 people dead and 851 injured. The shooter used bump stocks to allow his semi-automatic rifles to fire at a rate of a fully automatic weapon.

HB 1908 defines a "multiburst trigger activator" as a device that simulates automatic gunfire by allowing the standard function of a semiautomatic firearm with a static positioned trigger finger, or a device that fires multiple shots with the pull and release of the trigger. It can also be defined as a manual or power-driven trigger activating device constructed and designed so that when attached to a semiautomatic firearm it simulates automatic gunfire.

Bump stocks fit over the stock and pistol grip of a semi-automatic rifle and allows the weapon to fire rapidly, as many as 400 to 800 rounds per minute, emulating a fully automatic firearm.

The measure now moves to a full vote on the House floor.