Honolulu police said it can take down a plane.

"These weapons will go through one inch of steel at 1000 yards," said Maj. Greg Lefcourt.

The ammunition for it is as long as a dollar bill.

Experts said it can hit a target seven miles away. That's twice the distance from police headquarters on South Beretania Street -- to the UH Manoa campus.

Law enforcement officials worry about the weapon falling into the wrong hands. So HPD is trying to revive a bill to ban it in Hawaii.

Right now, there are 125 of the rifles registered in the state; 90 of them are on Oahu. Dr. Max Cooper owns one of them.

"It's a matter of personal choice," he said.

He said it's for target practice and also hunting, something that makes little sense to police.

"The damage that it'll do to an animal is so tremendous that it actually vaporizes the area that it strikes," Maj. Lefcourt said.

On the other hand, Dr. Cooper said, "I can tell you that as a long time hunter and as a surgeon who has treated gun shot wounds, a .50 caliber would not do that to an animal."

The Hawaii Rifle Association has lobbied hard to keep the bill from moving forward at the legislature.

Gun owners said a ban would violate their second amendment right to bear arms and they worry the bill could lead to more bans of other guns.

"It's a basic human right to be able to possess the means to defend yourself against lethal force and that's what firearms are and it's attacking the whole system; just going at it piece by piece," Dr. Cooper said.

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