Townhall Media/Beth Baumann

I see a lot of states pulling a lot of stunts, but this morning I learned of something that leaves me scratching my head.

It seems the State of Hawaii requires all gun owners to register their gun with the FBI. The problem is that a fee is charged for the “service” and then, it seems, it’s never provided.

https://www.facebook.com/hificoorg/photos/a.422936111527623/547749129046320/?type=3

Basically, Hawaii fingerprints every person owning a firearm, then sends that fingerprint to the FBI where it’s supposed to be input into a database.

While the FBI historically returned all fingerprint data, Rap Back creates the means to hold onto them indefinitely. That means undergoing an FBI background check for a job plugs you in a database used to find criminals.

In theory, Hawaii will send a gun owner’s fingerprints into this database as well.

There’s just a couple of problems with that.

First is the fact that it requires people to do this. The Rap Back is supposed to be voluntary. While you may have to supply fingerprints for a job, you’re not required to have that job. Other employers have no interest in conducting an FBI background check, after all. You have options.

For gun owners in Hawaii, though, that option doesn’t exist. You either submit the fingerprints, or you find yourself in violation of state law which requires a gun to be registered within a specific timeframe.

That’s far from voluntary.

Yet if that’s all that was happening, it would be enough. It’s not, though.

The problem is that the data has been collected, as has the fee, but the system isn’t up and running.

Firearm owners are being charged these fees due to the state’s requirement that they pay for the Rap Back service to be provided to them. So far, no service is being provided. It has been more than two years and we’re being led to believe that it will never be available. WHY are they still being charged? Why would you collect funds for a service that’s not available? It’s like paying an electricity bill, but not being hooked up the grid.

If I took money for a “service” I wasn’t providing, that would be theft, and I’d likely go to jail for it as I should.

So what’s the deal?

Well, there are a number of possibilities, but part of it may be the FBI told the state of Hawaii to go pound sand. After all, the state is using a federal database to register gun owners. That could be considered a federal gun registry.

Couple that with the fact that Hawaii requires this for people attempting to exercise a constitutionally protected right, and you’ve got a recipe for the FBI to say, “Nope.”

Make no mistake, either. Hawaii is a state trying to punish gun owners and nothing more.

If this were really about finding criminals, Hawaii would place this requirement on things like drivers licenses and marriage licenses. Instead, it only targets gun owners. Why? Because anti-gun lawmakers in the state are convinced that gun owners are all criminals and terrorists, despite any evidence to the contrary.

Meanwhile, they’re the ones taking money for a “service” not being provided.

Someone needs to answer for this.