AMGOA Staff
Pennsylvania


Posts: 1,429

Following New Jersey's recently-revised ban on police officers possessing guns, new attention has been brought to states with strict gun laws for law enforcement officers.

Standing out from the rest of the states is Hawaii, with their refusal to recognize the provisions of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA).

LEOSA was "designed to protect officers and their families from vindictive criminals, and to allow thousands of equipped, trained and certified law enforcement officers, whether on-duty, off-duty or retired, to carry concealed firearms in situations where they can respond immediately to a crime across state and other jurisdictional lines."

The purpose of the law was to preempt states from restricting the type of ammunition that officers could carry off duty, and allow them to carry their weapons in any state without running afoul of any state laws.

Hawaii's attorney general's office says that the federal law doesn't actually preempt state law.

According to Hawaii's Department of the Attorney General, if police officers from out of state are not on duty, then they are not actually considered to be police officers and LEOSA doesn't apply to them.

"If you are not on official duty with your governmental law enforcement agency and you are carrying a concealed firearm pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 926B, you are not considered a 'law enforcement officer' in the State of Hawaii. The Hawaii Revised Statutes will be applied to you as if you were a 'civilian' with no law enforcement powers," the state Attorney General memo says.

https://defensemaven.io/bluelivesmatter/news/hawaii-says-cops-from-out-of-state-can-t-carry-guns-despite-federal-law-ah0-5IoSwUiKt7XeWyOuDw/?fbclid=IwAR0TBpmscYoHrzRivQmvMox9Ijdb-3cMUp4Yjk7e75onqPAMfPmh0bQBjc8