Looking out for a young co-worker. Tried asking around, but I keep getting mixed answers. A young guy I work with recently got two guns from another young soldier transferring off the island. Got himself a pretty good deal on them, but I'm pretty sure they didn't follow the appropriate regulations for weapons transfer in this state. I registered my pistol when I first moved out here a couple months ago, but don't know the first thing about buying from a person on the island. From the reading I have done, they were both supposed to go in to HPD together to transfer registration of the weapon. I could be wrong. Either way, I don't want him to get into trouble for owning a non-registered weapon. I'm about 99% positive that the other guy he bought them from isn't even on the island anymore. What is he supposed to do? After all the reading I have done about buying weapons on island, I'm considering waiting until I go back stateside before buying anymore myself! Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hopefully they were long guns.
Hopefully he has a valid long gun permit.
And hopefully they were registered.
If so, no problem, just go register them.
He just gotta tell them who he got them from.

Don't need both guys to do the transfer.

If they are pistols he might have a problem.
Shoulda got the permit first.
Prior owner gotta sign off on the pistol permit prior to purchase/transfer.

Lucky for him then. It was an AR and a Shotgun. Hopefully he still has the other guys info. I'll ask him about the long gun permit. I'm willing to bet he doesn't have one. Both me and him are from Texas where they don't care about registering anything person to person sales. I remember when I got my first AR in Texas. I traded it for an old four wheeler in my front yard. Never had to do any paperwork for it. So I can't blame the kid for not thinking about it. Guess I just tend to be more cautious as I've gotten older. Just in case, since I have an audience, if he doesn't have the person's name or contact info anymore, where does that leave him. Not trying to get him in trouble, as he's a good kid, but don't want him getting in serious trouble with the state either.

Edit: also, what if the previous owner had pulled shady ops and never registered them?

Just trying to cover all possible bases.

Lucky for him then. It was an AR and a Shotgun. Hopefully he still has the other guys info. I'll ask him about the long gun permit. I'm willing to bet he doesn't have one. Both me and him are from Texas where they don't care about registering anything person to person sales. I remember when I got my first AR in Texas. I traded it for an old four wheeler in my front yard. Never had to do any paperwork for it. So I can't blame the kid for not thinking about it. Guess I just tend to be more cautious as I've gotten older. Just in case, since I have an audience, if he doesn't have the person's name or contact info anymore, where does that leave him. Not trying to get him in trouble, as he's a good kid, but don't want him getting in serious trouble with the state either.

The seller can "loan" the long guns to the buyer until he gets his permit to acquire.  That makes it legal for him to keep them while registered to the seller.  He can take the guns with him to pick up the permit and register all in one visit.

If the seller never registered, it matters what state he bought them in.  If not in Hawaii, then it should be a simple out of state registration process.

I don't know a thing about the guy he bought them from other than it was a soldier that has since transferred off island. I'll ask my guy these questions. But what i'm getting from all this is if he doesn't know the answers that he should take the guns to HPD and register them as his as "purchased out of state" and brought to the island with him? Sorry, if i'm talking in circles, its just all knew to me as well and I want to make sure I send him down the right path.

The seller can "loan" the long guns to the buyer until he gets his permit to acquire.  That makes it legal for him to keep them while registered to the seller.  He can take the guns with him to pick up the permit and register all in one visit.

If the seller never registered, it matters what state he bought them in.  If not in Hawaii, then it should be a simple out of state registration process.

For the love of God, don't listen to this.
The maximum period for the loaning of a REGISTERED long gun is 15 days. HRS 134-4.
The out-of-state registration process only applies if YOU (in this case your friend) bought the guns in another state then transported them here. 134-2(a), 134-2(f)
If your friend bought unregistered guns here in the state, there's not a legal path for him to follow that I can see. 

First of all, you should introduce yourself and get your friend to do the same.
Tell us where you are and what your interests are. It's the polite thing to do.
Click here...https://2ahawaii.com/index.php?topic=4.0

Then read the flow chart here....
https://2ahawaii.com/index.php?topic=222.0

If he is in violation of any procedure as outlined in the flow chart, I recommend taking the firearms and as much information about the seller to the police dept and plead ignorance.  They may confiscate the the guns either temporarily or permanently, but he probably won't be arrested. The seller should have told him something about local laws....unfortunate.