Hawaii has no laws granting immunity to the gun industry.

As of July 1, 2023, Hawaii enacted a Victims’ Access to Justice law¹ that requires firearm industry members to

• Establish, implement, and enforce reasonable controls. “Reasonable controls” means reasonable procedures, acts, or practices that are designed, implemented, and enforced to do the following:
  • Prevent the sale or distribution of a firearm-related product to a straw purchaser, a firearm trafficker, a person prohibited from possessing a firearm under federal or state law, or a person who the firearm industry member has reasonable cause to believe is at substantial risk of using a firearm-related product to harm themselves or another or of possessing or using a firearm-related product unlawfully;
  • Prevent the loss or theft of a firearm-related product from the firearm industry member; and
  • Ensure that the firearm industry member complies with all provisions of federal or state law and does not otherwise promote the unlawful manufacture, sale, possession, marketing, or use of a firearm-related product.

• Take reasonable precautions to ensure that the firearm industry member does not sell, distribute, or provide to a downstream distributor a firearm-related product that is abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk of harm to public health and safety in the state;
  • A firearm-related product is presumed abnormally dangerous and likely to create an unreasonable risk of harm to public health and safety if any of the following is true:
    • The firearm-related product’s features render the product most suitable for assaultive purposes instead of lawful self-defense, hunting, or other legitimate sport and recreational activities;
    • The firearm-related product is designed, sold, or marketed in a manner that foreseeably promotes the conversion of legal firearm-related products into illegal firearm-related products; or
    • The firearm-related product is designed, sold, or marketed in a manner that is targeted at minors or other individuals who are legally prohibited from accessing firearms.

• Not engage in any conduct related to the sale or marketing of firearm-related products that is in violation of the Victims’ Access to Justice Law.

A person who has suffered harm because of a firearm industry member’s violation of the Victims’ Access to Justice Law may civilly sue the industry member. The attorney general or any county attorney or public prosecutor are also enabled to sue industry members who violate the law.

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1. Hawaii Rev. Stat. § 134-A – D.[↩]