I recently had to investigate the process of shipping my shotgun from California to Big Island Hawaii and this is what I am having to go through so all you folks know for future reference.
I am shipping from an authorized gun dealer in CA to an authorized dealer in HI and because of that I have to get a 'permit to acquire' from the local police station. This involves a background check, fingerprinting (at a cost of exactly 16.50 paid by money order or cashiers check only), and consenting to a medical background check if necessary (whatever that means). I have to go to apply 14 days in advance of the acquisition of my gun that is being shipped (though the gun store graciously has agreed to hold it even though it should be here before then). After that I must register the gun without 5 days of picking it up at the gun shop. The total fee was around $150 from Eureka California to Hilo Hawaii, that includes the gun shop fee in Cali, the shipping costs, insurance, and the gun shop fee in Hawaii for pickup.
I mention this because state law is such that if you ship the gun to yourself (via container or other means), or bring it via airplane you DO NOT have to have a permit to acquire. I wish I'd known this beforehand and would have done it all differently. I could have saved the 16.50 and the hassle of having to jump through two different bureaucratic hoops instead of one and for -free-. If you fly into the state with the gun on your plane you must register it within three days. However I would have happily done so if I had known i'd need all the other nonsense just to get a gun shipped here that is rightfully mine (already acquired so to speak). So this is just a heads up for all you folks looking to import a gun into Hawaii. I know the gun laws here are pretty restrictive but if you are a hunter using a long gun they are easy enough to abide, just don't make the same mistake I did by trying to ship it by dealership, it just makes the government and the gun shop money and nothing else is really accomplished by it. Aloha.
I am shipping from an authorized gun dealer in CA to an authorized dealer in HI and because of that I have to get a 'permit to acquire' from the local police station. This involves a background check, fingerprinting (at a cost of exactly 16.50 paid by money order or cashiers check only), and consenting to a medical background check if necessary (whatever that means). I have to go to apply 14 days in advance of the acquisition of my gun that is being shipped (though the gun store graciously has agreed to hold it even though it should be here before then). After that I must register the gun without 5 days of picking it up at the gun shop. The total fee was around $150 from Eureka California to Hilo Hawaii, that includes the gun shop fee in Cali, the shipping costs, insurance, and the gun shop fee in Hawaii for pickup.
I mention this because state law is such that if you ship the gun to yourself (via container or other means), or bring it via airplane you DO NOT have to have a permit to acquire. I wish I'd known this beforehand and would have done it all differently. I could have saved the 16.50 and the hassle of having to jump through two different bureaucratic hoops instead of one and for -free-. If you fly into the state with the gun on your plane you must register it within three days. However I would have happily done so if I had known i'd need all the other nonsense just to get a gun shipped here that is rightfully mine (already acquired so to speak). So this is just a heads up for all you folks looking to import a gun into Hawaii. I know the gun laws here are pretty restrictive but if you are a hunter using a long gun they are easy enough to abide, just don't make the same mistake I did by trying to ship it by dealership, it just makes the government and the gun shop money and nothing else is really accomplished by it. Aloha.
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