Hawaii gun laws suit us just fine

It was fear that sent gun sales soaring in Hawaii last year, according to some firearms dealers. Not fear of violence, but of more restrictive gun laws. Enthusiasts needn’t have worried: Gun-control advocates were unsuccessful in getting tougher U.S. laws passed.

Thank goodness Hawaii already has a reasonably stringent law, including requiring firearms to be registered at a statewide level. There are about 1 million privately owned firearms in the state; although the number is rising, the crime rate is not, which is reassuring.

New credit cards offer extra measure of security

"Chip and pin." Sounds European — or, more properly, British — doesn’t it? So it’s no surprise that it’s the UK’s Barclaycard that’s behind the new HawaiianMiles credit cards, among the first here to sport the electronic chip common to European credit cards for years.

Expect to see more of this here: Hawaii State Federal Credit Union also is trotting out the cards with the so-called EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) chips. The cards are supposed to be more secure, with a special PIN number assigned as well. Card readers in Europe typically allow the corner of the card with the chip to be scanned, rather than the stripe-swipe readers. U.S. cards are likely to have both elements, for now.