Smith & Wesson has reportedly filed suit against the Hawaii Attorney General’s office over the high fee cost the agency charged for public records “related to firearms issues,” according to the Honolulu Civil Beat.
The report said the attorney general’s office wanted “as much as $27,000” for the records, including $12,000 the office wanted before releasing the records.
The story quoted Jeff Portnoy, an attorney representing the famous gun company, stating, “It appears to the client and it appears to us that the amount of time the state is claiming, and therefore the amount of fees, is an effort to discourage the public records request.”
According to the Civil Beat report, the Cogency Global agency filed a trio of records requests about two years ago on behalf of Smith & Wesson. Those requests were for:
- Communications between the department and the Firearms Accountability Counsel Task Force, described as “a coalition of law firms that seek to prevent gun violence.”
- Various proposals that the AG’s office issued related to firearms issues.
- A log of all records requests made to the AG’s office.
The attorney general’s office reportedly denied some of the records requests on the grounds that “disclosure would frustrate a legitimate government function, according to the lawsuit.”
The lawsuit reportedly alleges the AG’s refusal is “politically motivated.”
