Hawaii Will Put Gun Owners Into FBI Database

Hawaii has positioned itself on the leading edge of gun control after Gov. David Ige signed a bill Thursday that would put the state's gun owners into an FBI database, the AP reports. According to Hawaii News Now, Hawaiian gun owners will be entered in the "Rap Back" system, which will notify police if a Hawaiian gun owner is arrested anywhere in the country. Rap Back has been used for teachers, bus drivers, and others in "positions of trust" around the country, but this is the first time it's been used for gun owners, Fox News reports. "This is about our community's safety and responsible gun ownership," Hawaii News Now quotes Ige as saying. "This system will better enable our law enforcement agencies to ensure the security of all Hawaii residents and visitors to our islands."

An attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence calls the bill "groundbreaking." But critics say gun owners shouldn't be entered in a database just for exercising their constitutional rights. "This is an extremely dangerous bill," Fox quotes an NRA spokesperson as saying. "Exercising a constitutional right is not inherently suspicious." Ige signed two other gun-control bills Thursday. One bans stalkers and sexual abusers from owning guns. Another allows police to take guns away from someone disqualified from owning them due to mental health issues. (More gun control stories.)