Federal Lawsuit Seeks Enforcement of 40-Day Deadline for Hawaii County Firearm Permits

Local reporting and social posts describe a federal lawsuit aimed at forcing Hawaiʻi County to meet a 40-day processing deadline for firearm permits, though federal court filings and appellate opinion excerpts show the litigation centered on state statutes and the Hawaii Attorney General.

Plaintiffs Todd Yukutake and David Kikukawa filed suit in federal court in a case captioned Yukutake v. Lopez, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the Attorney General of Hawaii from enforcing two provisions of Hawaii’s firearms laws. “Plaintiffs-Appellees Todd Yukutake and David Kikukawa filed this action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief preventing the Attorney General of Hawaii from enforcing two provisions of Hawaii’s firearms laws on the ground that those provisions violate the Second Amendment, as incorporated against the States by the Fourteenth Amendment,” reads an appellate excerpt. Docket material includes Case: 21-16756 and a 10/20/2025 entry identified in the record.

The litigation challenges Hawaii Revised Statutes § 134-2(e) and § 134-3. Legal summaries indicate § 134-2(e) placed a short expiration window on acquisition permits for handguns, one analysis states it caused permits to expire after thirty days, while § 134-3 required that newly obtained firearms be inspected at a local police station within five days of acquisition. The Ninth Circuit panel concluded those restrictions were unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and described the temporal limitation as impermissibly “abusive.” The opinion was authored by Judge Collins, with Judge Lee joining all but one subsection of the opinion. The court cited standards such as that “system must be ‘specified’ in advance, avoid unreasonable and undue delays, and provide for prompt judicial review. FW/PBS, Inc., 493 U.S. at 228.”

At the same time, Hawaii Free Press and social posts frame the controversy as a suit challenging county permit delays and specifically say the plaintiffs seek an injunction “requiring Hawaiʻi County to comply with the 40-day processing mandate, along with declaratory” relief, a fragment posted to Facebook. Instagram summarized the matter as “New Federal Lawsuit Challenging Hawaiʻi County Firearm Permit Delays.” Those descriptions conflict with the federal filings excerpted in court materials, which name the Attorney General as defendant and focus on state statutory requirements. Plaintiffs are identified in court records as residents of Honolulu County who wish to acquire additional firearms, a detail that complicates the county-versus-state framing in social posts.

For Big Island County residents, the dispute matters because it touches permit timelines, buyer certainty, and local law enforcement procedures. If courts or subsequent filings press a county processing deadline into effect, Hawaiʻi County offices that handle permits could face new deadlines and legal exposure. The case also reflects broader federalism tensions: state and local officials design different steps to verify applicants while courts weigh constitutional protections and administrative timelines.

Several firearms advocacy and legal groups appear on related filings as amici or interested parties, including the Oregon Firearms Federation, Tennessee Firearms Association, Virginia Citizens Defense League, Grass Roots North Carolina, America’s Future, the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the Restoring Liberty Action Committee.

What comes next for readers is clarification. County and state officials, as well as the plaintiffs, must be asked whether the complaint seeks to compel a 40-day county processing rule and which county policies, if any, are at issue. Expect developments in the coming weeks that will determine whether permit waits shorten or litigation shifts the debate from county administration to state statutory reform. Check with Hawaiʻi County permit offices or the Attorney General’s public statements for the latest official guidance on permit timing.