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Hawaii Suppressor Laws

Suppressors are prohibited in Hawaii. Civilian ownership is illegal under state law regardless of federal compliance.

Reviewed by Diego Lopez, Head of Enforcement · Last reviewed August 21, 2026

Prohibited
Ownership Status
Prohibited
Hunting Status
Felony
Possession Penalty
42
States Where Legal

August 5 NFA Ruling

Updated August 21, 2026

A federal court ruled that the government cannot enforce certain NFA registration requirements against the parties covered by that case. It is not a repeal of the NFA, it is not nationwide, and it does not change state law.

Hawaii: the ruling changes nothing here. A federal court order limiting ATF enforcement does not create a right to possess an item this state bans.

Read how this may affect you →

Current Law

Hawaii uses the broadest verb list of any state that bans suppressors. HRS § 134-8(a): “The manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, or acquisition of any of the following shall be prohibited: … mufflers, silencers, or devices for deadening or muffling the sound of discharged firearms …”

Eight verbs, including acquisition and gift. Receiving one as a present is squarely inside the statute.

The Penalty

Read this one carefully, because it is routinely reported wrong. § 134-8(d): a violator “shall be guilty of a class C felony and shall be imprisoned for a term of five years without probation.”

That is a flat, mandatory five years. Not a five-year maximum. The official Case Notes to the section confirm it: the trial court “is mandated to sentence defendant to a term of imprisonment without any suspension of the sentence.” The statute sets no fine.

Hawaii is the harshest of the nine jurisdictions by a wide margin.

Who Is Exempt, and Who Is Not

None appear in § 134-8 itself. They live in a separate section, HRS § 134-11, which covers state and county law enforcement officers, members of the armed forces of the State and the United States, mail carriers on duty where the duty requires being armed, and state or federal employees in performance of their duties.

§ 134-11(c) adds a genuine film exemption, but a narrow one: props for motion picture or television production, with blank cartridges only, authorized by the county chief of police, and not in violation of federal law.

There is no dealer or manufacturer exemption for silencers. The affirmative defense at § 134-8(e) that gets cited for licensed dealers is limited by its own terms to ghost guns.

Alternatives

If you want to own and use suppressors, your options include:

  • Move to one of the 42 states where suppressors are legal
  • Use suppressors while visiting legal states (with proper arrangements)
  • Support legislative efforts to change Hawaii law

Legislative Outlook

§ 134-8 was amended by Act 18 (2025), enacted from HB 392 HD1 and signed April 10, 2025. It added ghost guns to subsection (a) and created the (e) affirmative defense. It did not touch the silencer clause.

HB 893 HD1 (2025), an assault weapons measure amending the same section, passed the House and died in the Senate in March 2025. It did not address silencers.

Key Takeaway

Hawaii prohibits manufacture, possession, sale, barter, trade, gift, transfer, and acquisition of a suppressor under HRS § 134-8, and the penalty is a mandatory five years without probation.