Selling firearm ammunition to anyone younger than 21 years old is now illegal in Hawaiʻi.
On Tuesday, Gov. Josh Green signed a bill that sets the age limit for buying, owning or controlling ammo.
The measure notes that Hawaiʻi has some of the strongest gun safety laws in the United States and one of the lowest death rates per capita.
But before this week, the state had not set a minimum age for buying and owning ammunition.
Nicole Nakasugi, a teacher on Oʻahu, brought this loophole to the attention of lawmakers after a student informed her about it.
"I also knew she had access to an unsecured firearm. So when she came to me with the knowledge that she had learned that there was no age restriction to purchase ammunition I was immediately concerned," Nakasugi said.
"I did some research and discovered that while we have age requirements for purchasing weapons, there actually were no age requirements for buying the ammunition that goes with the weapons. If the ability to purchase firearms has an age requirement, it seems only logical that purchasing ammunition for those weapons should too," she continued.
Other states are facing court challenges to laws restricting firearms to those under 21, arguing that it violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
But the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that the state’s constitution does not grant residents the right to carry guns in public, indicating that it would likely uphold the new law.
