How can one go about this?  I am military and will not be coming back.  How can I get the registration(s) destroyed?

just yours or everybody's? I wonder if hpd has a secret protocol to wipe out all their files in case of a red-dawn type scenario. serious though I'm about to send one away as a gift and am curious as well.

Really good question. Can anyone  answers this with a reliable source of information? 

This is the only thing I can find about revoking permits in the Hawaii Statutes:

§134-13  Revocation of permits.  All permits and licenses provided for under this part may be revoked, for good cause, by the issuing authority or by the judge of any court. [L 1988, c 275, pt of §2]

I transferred 2 handguns and 1 rifle to a relative who moved to Seattle.  I asked the HPD officer if we needed to do anything like notifying them she's leaving Hawaii with the firearms, and he said, "No, just make sure to follow the laws of wherever you move."

That implies to me, there is no "registration cancellation" process. 

It might be a good idea to contact HPD and specifically ask the question about destruction of registrations.  My guess would be they don't destroy them since they don't require notification that you left the state permanently.

The good news is, if you ever come back for a visit, those guns are already registered!   

Really good question. Can anyone  answers this with a reliable source of information? 

This is second hand information, based upon me asking the owners of my LGS about going to the mainland and selling some of my firearms there. They said they'd been told by the registration office personnel (in Hilo "the regulars" are on a mutual first name basis with the registration personnel who are usually quite friendly and helpful. Hi Arlene!  ) that you needed to bring in the receipt/paperwork for the sale and then that particular registration document would be voided. I asked them about doing a "private sale" (aka "no paperwork") in a state where those are legal (most states), but they hadn't asked that so weren't sure. I'm going in this week to register something I bought yesterday, so if they aren't busy I'll try to remember to ask.

The good news is, if you ever come back for a visit, those guns are already registered!   

If I understand the current status of government data collection and storage correctly, those guns will ALWAYS be registered. Even after the unimaginable might happen and were registration voided by the courts as unconstitutional, and the government claim to have destroyed all such documents in keeping with a court order, I'm pretty sure that list will exist in perpetuity. That's the closest I'm going to come to eternal existence. 

I would imagine you would have to provide some type of "proof" that you or the firearm are permanetly removed from the state.  Probably easier said than done.  Otherwise, what is to prevent everyone from "removing" their firearms permanently from the state?

The registration I have been told by HPD never leaves your name. Even of you transfer it to someone else.  You are 100% responsible to know who you sold it to. 

The registration I have been told by HPD never leaves your name. Even of you transfer it to someone else.  You are 100% responsible to know who you sold it to.

Is HPD claiming their jurisdiction applies to a private sale in New Mexico? Or just that no matter what you do wherever with a firearm registered to you, if they ever come to your door with a warrant to confiscate it, you will be arrested, charged and prosecuted unless you produce it?

How much information do you have to provide to HPD about the person you sold your firearm to in New Mexico? Name, address, social security number, photocopy of driver's license, photocopy of passport, color photo, fingerprints, bill of sale, video recording of entire transaction (as is mandatory in the new Chicago gun store law)?

Seems like the only real answer is to have a national registry of all firearms transfers, conducted through FFLs or some other government agency, then no matter who sold/transferred whichever gun to whomever wherever, the government would have a complete and total record of all that information. Well, except for criminals who steal their guns or acquire them via the black market., and that's such a relatively small number it's hardly worth bothering about compared to the law-abiding gun owners who are the real problem. [/sarcasm]

Just got back from registering a long gun in Hilo. Asked about selling a firearm out of state and what to do then about the Hawaii registration. She said that you should come in and they will give you a copy of the registration document which you then write upon (something to the effect of) "I sold this firearm in California." If you have the buyers name and address that'd be good. She said if you do sell something our of state, and don't report that, and happen to be the subject of a TRO ("Which can happen really easily."), when the police come to confiscate your registered weapons and you tell them you sold it on the mainland, "you will be charged". She didn't know what the charge would be, and referred me to HRS 134-2(f)... which is the reference on the seller's paperwork for a long gun. But I don't see anything it that section that has to do with selling firearms out of state and what one is then required to do re the still existing registration in Hawaii. Unless she means that you (could) file that same seller's paperwork as of tje sale were in Hawaii even though you have sold out of state.

I didn't ask if the registration form for the sold firearm is then destroyed, but believe that since they're asking you to sign another piece of paper that it's highly unlikely they would then walk into the office and throw that and the original registration in the trash. Most likely that registration data will exist as long as the registration system exists... maybe (probably) even longer.

Any other input from other sources welcome.

All paperwork is on file in the PD archives. I had my paperwork for an assault pistol traced back to 1992 and obtained a copy of the original registration. It only took them only 3 days.

As far as any firearm leaving the state, Hawaii laws and PD do not have any jurisdiction outside of states lines. once the firearm leaves the state, the FBI and ATF takes over. The sale of private firearms within other  states borders are not regulated, thus any sale or gifts are not recorded in most states.

A gun trace always start at a know source, this is usually the manufacture, then the distributor and all the FFLs down stream. The buck stops at the end of the paper trail at HPD then " you". However, you are not required by law to divulge any information.

However, you are not required by law to divulge any information.

Are you referring to the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, or something more specific in Hawaii law regarding the particular circumstance of having transferred a Hawaii-registered firearm outside the state? I'd like to see any Hawaii law that deals directly with this circumstance. Thanks. 

more towards the 4th and 5th

but under HRS its written  "within the state" thus doesn't refer to transfers out of state. and interstate commerance

HRS 134-2 (f)


     (f)  In all cases where a pistol or revolver is acquired from another person within the State, ......

   

     In all cases where a rifle or shotgun is acquired from another person within the State, ......

more towards the 4th and 5th

but under HRS its written  "within the state" thus doesn't refer to transfers out of state. and interstate commerance

HRS 134-2 (f)


     (f)  In all cases where a pistol or revolver is acquired from another person within the State, ......

   

     In all cases where a rifle or shotgun is acquired from another person within the State, ......

Thanks Suka. I don't mean to beat the dead horse, but do you, or anyone, know of anything in Hawaii law that directly addresses out of state transfers of Hawaii-registered firearms, e.g. something that would read along the lines of "If a firearm registered in Hawaii is transferred out of state to an out of state owner, the person having registered the firearm in Hawaii then must/may/is required to..." If there is no provision in the law for such a circumstance, I'm rather surprised, and further surprised that the "instructions" given by the registration personnel seem to be "off the cuff" non-statutory "recommendations". Not like there's any shortage of people writing laws about firearm ownership/possession/sales/transfers/use around here. If they can write a law it's illegal to stop for gas (or anywhere else) between your house and the range with a firearm in your vehicle, you'd think they'd have covered what to do when you transfer a firearm out of state. I guess they have their priorities... and that leaves it totally open-ended for them to do whatever they want according to their "discretion".

Most people are paranoid and will and usually do report their transfer out of state, however legally HRS has nothing to do with anything out of State.

Basically, if it went to a FFL in another State, your end is done and any trace (be it not) jumps to the next FFL's log book.

On another hand if you fly your firearm to another State and sold it as a private transfer, HRS still does not have and jurisdiction of that transfer. and under federal laws , no record of sale is required,

HRS can not regulate interstate commerce.

Most people are paranoid and will and usually do report their transfer out of state, however legally HRS has nothing to do with anything out of State.

Basically, if it went to a FFL in another State, your end is done and any trace (be it not) jumps to the next FFL's log book.

On another hand if you fly your firearm to another State and sold it as a private transfer, HRS still does not have and jurisdiction of that transfer. and under federal laws , no record of sale is required,

HRS can not regulate interstate commerce.

There could be a statute that requires a person to report an out of state transfer within 48 hours of returning to Hawaii, just like the requirement to report a long gun sale in the state of Hawaii. In the local transfer case they want you to tell them you no longer have the firearm, and it wouldn't involve any jurisdiction outside Hawaii to have such a statute re any out of state transfer. Not that I want to be giving the statists around here any more ideas for anti-gun laws, but like I said, I'm surprised there is no "legal" statute and only "recommendations". People that want to legislate that you are a criminal if you have an 11 or 12 round magazine in a handgun don't seem like the types to leave things to "discretion" unless that works in their favor for even more "control".

There could be a statute that requires a person to report an out of state transfer within 48 hours of returning to Hawaii, just like the requirement to report a long gun sale in the state of Hawaii. In the local transfer case they want you to tell them you no longer have the firearm, and it wouldn't involve any jurisdiction outside Hawaii to have such a statute re any out of state transfer. Not that I want to be giving the statists around here any more ideas for anti-gun laws, but like I said, I'm surprised there is no "legal" statute and only "recommendations". People that want to legislate that you are a criminal if you have an 11 or 12 round magazine in a handgun don't seem like the types to leave things to "discretion" unless that works in their favor for even more "control".

I'm sorry, but ....

did I just read you are trying to apply rational thinking and logic to the state's gun laws?

I KNOW that can't be what you meant!

                             

I'm sorry, but ....

did I just read you are trying to apply rational thinking and logic to the state's gun laws?

I KNOW that can't be what you meant!

                             

Sorry. I forgot where I was for a moment. 

You won't be able to erase your gun registration here in Hawaii.  If you sell your guns out of state, just make the person you sell or give it to can legally own a firearm.

There could be a statute that requires a person to report an out of state transfer within 48 hours of returning to Hawaii,

NOPE !
None exist