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Hawaii is showing national leadership on the subjects of guns.
We have no problem with guns. Hawaii may not be known for packing a gun culture, but the state attorney general estimates nearly
1 million firearms are in Hawaii, which would be nearly one privately owned gun for every person living here.
Tragic school shootings, random workplace killings and the horror of mass murder at entertainment venues don’t shock, they just make living in gun-loving America less safe.
Hawaii has managed two things: first, keeping guns away from people who obviously should not have them; and second, showing the rest of the country how to write and enforce smart gun laws.
Hawaii is where to go if you want to live in the U.S. and not get shot or killed by a firearm.
The gun homicide rate is 0.62 victims per 100,000, compared with a U.S. average of 3.99 per 100,000.
Also, Hawaii was the first U.S. state to place firearm owners on the FBI’s Rap Back, a FBI criminal monitoring service that allows police here to be notified when a Hawaii firearm owner from the state is arrested anywhere. Gov. David Ige signed that into law last year.
Earlier, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa had been both praising Hawaii law and urging for national laws to follow.
“Our experience in Hawaii has shown that we can place common sense limits on gun sales, demonstrate our respect for gun owners, and, most importantly, help ensure the safety of our residents.” Hanabusa wrote in a 2013 Huffington Post op-ed piece entitled “Hawaii Has Shown That Gun Control Works.”
The “Happiness is a warm gun” bunch immediately started to criticize Hanabusa and Hawaii’s gun laws, but actually demonstrated the wisdom of local laws.
“Hanabusa forgot to mention the mandatory safety course required for permit applicants. Or the fingerprinting. Or the separate fees and applications for each handgun purchase. (Which apply to any firearm transfer, including guns given to family members.) Also unspoken: all firearms must be registered with the Hawaii police department. All of them. Every. Single. One.” wrote Robert Farago in a piece headlined “Hawaii: This Is The Gun Control Paradise They’re Looking For” on the Truth About Guns website.
A 2015 piece in The Atlantic noted: “As the number of guns in Hawaii has increased, Hawaii’s legislators have enacted some of the strictest gun-safety measures in the country.”
As one of the most isolated spots on the globe, Hawaii makes it tough to just drive to to the next state if you are feeling a need for a gun.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns tracked the interstate crime gun export rates showing the number of traced guns bought in one state but recovered from crime scenes in another. Hawaii has the lowest: 2.3 per 100,000 residents. Mississippi is highest at 50.
The Atlantic piece quotes Philip Cook, a Duke University sociologist, saying that in Hawaii, “it’s hard to get a gun if you’re not qualified to own one. … I think they are protected against guns from other states by the fact that they’re out there in the middle of the Pacific.”
Last week I interviewed state Rep. Scott Nishimoto, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which is working on a bill to regulate bump stocks that convert semi-automatic weapons into nearly fully automatic guns, like the one used in the Las Vegas massacre.
“We have tough laws, but we have to keep up with technology. I think with a view toward all that has happened, I think there is a desire to be vigilant and control guns,” Nishimoto said.
If we are to lead the nation in something, saying “No” to guns is a title to win every year.
Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays. Reach him at 808onpolitics@gmail.com.
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