Meh.
That's 59 out of 41 people who submitted applications so far, with 600 applications submitted.
That's MILES above places like New York. Through August 28 of last year, 3,058 new handgun permits were submitted according to NYPD statistics, not ONE of which was approved. Any bets as to how many have been approved since?
59 doesn't sound like much. But Hawaii has a culture that's far different than mainland United States and they simply don't have that many guns there, either. Their gun laws have been very restrictive for a long time and that, too, has become part of their culture. So 59 is a HUGE deal...more so when you look at their statistics on the matter, small though those numbers may be, and compare them to the statistics of other places which have historically had very strick gun laws. New York, Chicago, etc. If we assume that this 59 is out of 600 (so far), that's nearly 10% approved so far. The remaining just haven't been completed and ready for his review yet.
Let's see how those statistics fair over the coming months.
"they simply don't have that many guns there".
Well, at least while I was there, many families came to the public range with wagons, like the red flyer, full of rifles, shotguns and handguns. Some days, I had to wait for somebody to burn all of their ammo to get a spot. I had to write my name on a "wait list" book until technology came along and their schedule was on-line, and I had to go there to sign up for a specific range time. No more waiting!
As for how difficult it is to bring weapons into the island: too easy! Go to the HPD, wait in line with weapons in an approved case, go through their forms, then wait (at least for a week) for the forms to be signed by the authorities. That's all.
Buying weapons is kind of the same. Go to the dealer with HPD pre-approved permit, purchase the item, and go to HPD to register your purchase, or something like that. I went through both processes while on island.