U.S.A. — On March 3, 2022, a lawsuit was filed against the City and County of Honolulu. The plaintiff, Michael Santucci, was a naval officer (an LTJG, or O2) with a top-secret clearance, working as a Cryptologic Warfare officer. In Hawaii, all firearms must be registered except for firearms made before 1899 or which are designed to use loose black powder.
During the registration process, in early July of 2021, Santucci truthfully answered that he had seen a medical provider for feelings of depression and homesickness. Santucci was not diagnosed with any significant “behavioral, emotional, or mental disorder.” Because Santucci truthfully answered the question on the registration form, he was told he had to deliver his firearms to the Honolulu Police. He turned them in. The police demanded Santucci receive medical clearance before they would issue a permit to acquire his firearms. Santucci filed suit against the City and County of Hawaii on grounds his Second Amendment rights were being violated, as the police were arbitrarily refusing to register his firearms when nothing in the Hawaiian law allowed them to do so. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii.
The case continued for most of the next 15 months. A preliminary injunction was issued on November 23, 2023. As a result of the preliminary injunction, LTJG Santucci had his firearms returned to him, as revealed by the Honolulu Civil Beat:
When the judge issued the preliminary injunction in November, Santucci got his guns back. Then HPD added more specific fields to its questionnaire. Now the injunction is permanent, banning the old forms for good.
A settlement was reached on May 24, 2023, eleven months after the Bruen case was decided by the Supreme Court on June 22, 2022. The results of the settlement are, in short:Â The settlement includes $130,500 dollars which includes damages, lawyers’ fees, and costs. From the court-approved stipulation:
3) In full and final settlement and satisfaction of all claims by Plaintiff for damages, fees, including attorneys’ fees, and costs in The Lawsuit-
A) County shall pay a payment of $102,500, one-hundred-two-thousand- five-hundred dollars, subject to Honolulu City Council approval;Â
B) Hawaii shall pay a payment of $28,000, twenty-eight-thousand dollars, subject to approval by the Hawaii State Legislature and Governor;Â
C) Counsel for the County and Hawaii shall, in good faith, seek approvals from the City Council and the State Legislature.
If the City of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii disapprove of the settlement and refuse to obligate the money by August 31 for the City and September 15 for the State of Hawaii, the settlement is void and will end up back in court.
The City of Honolulu Police Department changed the forms it uses for the registration of firearms. The refusal to register LTJG Santucci’s firearms on a non-existent reading of the law resulted in changes in the process.
These cases are useful steps in forcing states and local governments to treat the Second Amendment with the same respect other fundamental, Constitutional rights are treated. Because of the lawsuit, the procedures of the Honolulu Police Department were changed. The same type of “catch 22”, where a person who truthfully answers questions that do not debar him from exercise of Second Amendment rights, will be less likely to happen again.
Opinion: The entire system of registration of firearms is almost certainly unconstitutional. No system of firearms registration existed in American law in the late colonial or early Republic periods. Registration of firearms started very, very late in Florida in 1893, and even that was found to be unconstitutional. This correspondent expects registration regimes to be challenged in the courts, but the necessary foundation of the right to possess and carry arms has been more urgent.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
You get the Tyranny you allow. Deservedly so.
Not quite. Tyranny by majority is forced upon the free citizen, they neither asked for nor deserve it, and they certainly did not allow it. The same holds true in all states that violate the Second Amendment by imposing any restriction to the free citizens possession or bearing of arms.
No more pineapples for me!
As an aside, most pineapples come from central/south America now. Production costs are too high in Hawaii, just like the cost of everything else there, and they’re no longer the #1 source for pineapple. 🙂
I thought I put 2022. But then, sometimes spell checker and automated editors do strange things.
I could have mistyped it as well. Thanks for catching the error.
2nd Amendment powers, ACTIVATE!
“The settlement includes $130,500 dollars …”. Therein lies an essential problem for ALL 2A cases. There are never meaningful penalties against the perps, for what is (a) a case treated with partisan, political motivations, and (b) essentially a civil rights case. Until these penalties are (a) substantial, ruinous dollar amounts, (b) both to the accountable government entities, and most importantly, (c) to the INDIVIDUALS who knowingly violate the civil rights of the victim, Communist inspired “Lawfare” will continue. Lawfare is using the legal “process” as a cudgel to effect what the authoritarian socialists can’t achieve at the polls, in democratic republic. The leftists… Read more »
Because these stupid f-cling writers have no formal training to be a writer and the editors if they even have any, are worthless as well.
My ex was a journalist and an English Major.
She proofread the ones that had already been proofread.
Non of that exists today.
It happens every day here in every article.
Show some pride in your writing people.
It only takes a moment.