Hawaii could begin enrolling gun owners into a federal database that would alert authorities if a resident is arrested in another state, making it the first state to do so.
Democratic state Sen. Will Espero introduced the bill earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. He and the Honolulu Police Department said Hawaii could lead the way for similar laws across the country if the legislation is enacted.
Gun owners would shoulder the cost of entering into the database in the form of a fee, though that stipulation is not defined in the legislation. Critics of the bill have said that a mandatory database infringes on constitutional rights.
"I don’t like the idea of us being entered into a database. It basically tells us that they know where the guns are, they can go grab them," Jerry Ilo, a firearm and hunting instructor in Hawaii, told the Associated Press. "We get the feeling that Big Brother is watching us."
The majority of those currently entered into the FBI’s "Rap Back" database are in "positions of trust." The system notifies authorities when those individuals are convicted of a crime.
Legal experts told the Associated Press that the bill may be challenged in court, but said that it would likely remain intact because of preceding Supreme Court rulings clarifying the states’ authority to regulate guns.
Hawaii currently only background checks residents when they register a firearm, leaving police with no way of knowing whether an individual is prohibited from owning a gun until they register another.
A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association called the state’s attempt to track on gun owners "extremely dangerous."
"Exercising a constitutional right is not inherently suspicious," the NRA’s Amy Hunter told the Associated Press. "Hawaii will now be treating firearms as suspect and subject to constant monitoring."