HPD "can't" and "won't". Are you serious? HPD will, have, and will continue to do whatever they want. They will hide behind the Union and Qualified Immunity. For example, ruling about registration. HPD website has not been updated to notify people that they don't need to physically come in or bring their firearms into HPD to register. Unless ask directly, HPD will continue to mislead the public that they still need to come in and bring the firearm.
My question was more of what happens after HPD arrest you for carry in house. Would the Attorney General of Hawaii say that carry in home is constitutional protected but you still need a license to do it?
First, I would have agreed with you on HPD officers' behavior before the body cam and cell phone age. If they think they are going to be recorded, they will be a little less "I do whatevah," and more "I might get fired." I had a friend who said he followed a woman from the parking lot where she dented his BMW with her car door. When she got home, he confronted her -- politely and calmly. Asked for her insurance and license info, and left. The woman called the cops, and lied about his visit to the responding unit, saying he screamed obscenities and threatened her, and that her neighbor was a witness.
They then went to my friend's and stood on one side of the gate in front of his house and he on the inside of the yard. After contradicting the woman and asking if they spoke to the supposed witness, he said he was done talking to them unless they wanted to arrest him. One tried to open the gate, and he said, "Stay off my property. Unless you have an arrest warrant, you'll be trespassing. The Cop said "We go where we want," and started to open the gate. That's when he looked up and saw the surveillance camera. The cops stopped in their tracks, said the detectives would follow up, but never heard another word about it. They were trying to get him to say something incriminating, but he wasn't playing that game.
He filed an insurance report with both his and the lady's carriers, and hers wound up fixing the dent. The woman's attempted use of HPD to make him out to be the bad guy failed miserably because of one thing: video recording. It would have been obvious the Cops escalated the encounter, not my friend.
PART II: Nobody can tell you what the AG might do. It may never even get there. If HPD reviews the reports, they may decide the citation was unsupported and just withdraw it. They don't want to bog down the AG's office with a bunch of garbage citations I would assume (but I don't know for sure).
As for Constitutional rights in Hawaii ...... LOL!!
If you look at the gun laws here, it's as if someone in the state legislature sat down with a list of all the things that the federal law makers know they can't do that violates the Constitution, and them drafted those laws at the state level -- thinking the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to states.
If you think the AG will protect your rights, think again. This is why individuals have had to sue the state in court to exercise their rights. The state has no interest in your rights -- only in compliance with the laws of Hawaii.
Conclusion: If there's no law that says you can't, then you can. Basic legal doctrine. You just have to do enough research to know that no laws prohibiting carry at home without a CC or OC permit exists. From my own research, and comments from others here, there's no such law.
§134-9 Licenses to carry.
(c) No person shall carry concealed or unconcealed on the person a pistol or revolver without being licensed
to do so under this section or in compliance with sections 134-5(c) or 134-25.
HRS 134-5(c)
(c) A person may carry unconcealed and use a lawfully acquired pistol or revolver while actually
engaged in hunting game mammals, if that pistol or revolver and its suitable ammunition are
acceptable for hunting by rules adopted pursuant to section 183D-3 and if that person is licensed
pursuant to part II of chapter 183D. The pistol or revolver may be transported in an enclosed container,
as defined in section 134-25 in the course of going to and from the place of the hunt, notwithstanding
section 134-26.
134-25 Place to keep pistol or revolver; penalty. (a) Except as provided in sections 134-5 and
134-9, all firearms shall be confined to the possessor’s place of business, residence, or sojourn;
provided that it shall be lawful to carry unloaded firearms in an enclosed container from the place of
purchase to the purchaser’s place of business, residence, or sojourn, or between these places upon
change of place of business, residence, or sojourn, or between these places and the following:
(1) A place of repair;
(2) A target range;
(3) A licensed dealer’s place of business;
(4) An organized, scheduled firearms show or exhibit;
(5) A place of formal hunter or firearm use training or instruction; or
(6) A police station.
“Enclosed container” means a rigidly constructed receptacle, or a commercially manufactured gun case, or the equivalent thereof that completely encloses the firearm.
(b) Any person violating this section by carrying or possessing a loaded or unloaded pistol or revolver shall be guilty of a class B felony.
Based on my NOT A LAWYER interpretation, since 134-9 says "No person shall carry concealed or unconcealed on the person a pistol or revolver without being licensed to do so under this section
OR in compliance with sections 134-5(c) or 134-25, and 134-25 lists all the places you can have a pistol or revolver legally and without any restrictions at those places, I see no prohibition from carrying at home, your business, nor anywhere else you're allowed to keep your firearm.
Then there's the newly enacted HB 31 that altered HRS 134-10.5:
[ 134-10.5] Storage of firearm; responsibility with respect to minors. No person shall store or keep
any firearm on any premises under the person’s control if the person knows or reasonably should
know that a minor is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the parent or guardian
of the minor, unless the person:
(1) Keeps the firearm in a securely locked box or other container or in a location that a reasonable person would believe to be secure; or
(2) Carries the firearm on the person or within such close proximity thereto that the person readily can retrieve and use it as if it were carried on the person.
For purposes of this section, “minor” means any person under the age of sixteen eighteen years.
The only change in the law was to up the age of a minor from 16 to 18. But, if you read subparagraph (2), it says carrying a firearm on the person, or keeping it close enough to readily retrieve and use it, are acceptable when keeping guns out of the hands of minors who do not have permission.
To me, since they didn't reference 134-9 nor state anything at all about having a license to carry, it implies no permit is required in the home or anywhere else it is permissible to keep your firearm.
As I said, there's nothing that says you can't, so my answer is "can carry at home". Just exercise good judgement if someone with a badge knocks. "Just a minute. I have water running!"
