More than a quarter of the gun permit applications that Hawaii officials denied last year were due to the applicants’ status as medical marijuana patients, the state attorney general’s office says.
The annual “Firearms Registration in Hawai’i” report, published last month, shows that of the 163 firearms permit applications that were rejected in 2025, 47 (28.8 percent) were denied due to medical cannabis.
Medical marijuana was the leading cause of denials, ahead of mental health issues, domestic violence or other criminal offenses. Another 13 gun permit applications, or 8 percent of all rejections, were due to drug offenses.
The applicants that were rejected for medical cannabis includes current as well as some former patients, as “police departments allow former patients to apply for firearm permits no less than one year after the expiration of their medical marijuana card,” the report says.
Medical marijuana patient status has consistently been a leading cause of gun permit denials in Hawaii. The attorney general’s office reported, for example, that 41 percent of rejections in 2023 were due to medical cannabis.
The new Hawaii data comes amid several important federal developments concerning marijuana consumers’ gun rights.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this
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