Keep firearms off Hawaii’s streets

Let’s be clear from the start. I grew up in a home full of guns. My father taught all three kids to shoot accurately. My brothers still hunt. I do not object to single-shot hunting rifles. I like venison. I own a rifle, a Winchester pump-action 22 caliber; it is in a gun safe in South Carolina.

But I find the concept of wide-open-carry in Hawaii appalling. One of the things I like about Hawaii is its strong gun control. I do not understand how “personal protection” got mixed up with the need for a well-regulated militia. The Constitution says nothing about firearms for personal protection.

I urge the Legislature to come up with a way for us to identify people carrying guns. Or better yet, a way to keep these numbers very small.

I will not enter a business that allows guns on the premises. If I see a person wearing a firearm, I will place potential purchases on the floor and leave, and not visit that business again.

If you think I can’t do that, I have two words for you: Amazon Prime.

Mary Macmillan

Mililani

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Ruling welcomed by gun owners

The recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, albeit surprising, is a welcome decision for law-abiding, responsible gun owners (“Open carry,” Star-Advertiser, July 25).

The statement by Gov. David Ige, citing the killing of Officer Bronson Kaliloa by a murderous convicted felon illegally in possession of a firearm “as a warning against those who advocate for limiting or eliminating gun controls” is laughable. It shows just how little the governor understands the issue of gun control and the possession and use of firearms by properly trained law-abiding citizens.

And the statement by Senate Judiciary Chairman Brian Taniguchi that open carry “… raises the level or potential for violence” is without statistical backing. While studies may be fuzzy on the subject, with some citing lower violent crime rates in open-carry states, no study to date has documented an increase in crime attributed to open carry.

This issue if far from resolved, but let’s stop blurting out erroneous and misleading “facts” to foster a political agenda.

Tim Gedney

Hawaii Kai

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Mayor’s B&B plan a worthy proposal

Bravo to Mayor Kirk Caldwell for proposing a law that would hit absentee owners with big fines for illegally renting out vacation units and would require legal landlords to register, provide parking and pay higher taxes (“Caldwell proposes new bills affecting short-term rentals,” Star-Advertiser, July 27).

Illegal rentals abuse our neighborhoods, drive up rental and housing prices and cause parking problems. Never mind the heartwarming TV ads that show a sweet auntie renting out a room — 99 percent of the rentals are deliberately breaking the law. Let’s hope the City Council doesn’t water it down.

Larry Meacham

Wahiawa

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Create ohana zone, clear Waianae beach

Since the 1990s, the city has allowed the creation of unofficial ohana zones for the homeless, replete with bathrooms, showers, shade trees, garbage pickup and police security, in no-camping areas at Pokai Bay and Lualualei Beach Park II.

Pokai Bay Street residents request that the city without delay create an attractive alternate campground for the homeless with optional social services as the official Ohana Zone, and give Pokai Bay Beach Park and Lualualei Beach Park II back to Waianae citizens.

Lualualei Beach Park II, one block makai of Waianae’s main shopping area, attracts an unsavory criminal element. The accumulation of their trash and abandoned vehicles overwhelms the beach’s natural beauty. Beautifying this beachfront with benches, walking paths and regular tree trimming would make it more inviting and safer for law-abiding park users. Waianae deserves a beautiful beachfront that can be enjoyed by all.

Susan Yamane-Carpenter

Waianae

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Treat mental illness like other illnesses

Our mental hospitals were closed to all but the criminally insane about 25 or so years ago. It was intended as an improvement. The mentally ill were to be housed instead in group homes.

It had been intended in part as a kind of liberation from permanent and sometimes unwarranted incarceration.

But not enough group homes materialized.

Is sociology no longer taught in high school? We have fundraisers for every ailment from carpal tunnel syndrome to cancer and AIDS. The mentally ill seem to be forgotten and left to perish on the street. No longer welcome on our beaches and in our parks, and now about to be banned from the sidewalks — disdained, abused and maltreated.

Every other illness seems to have strong advocates and support, but our attitude toward the mentally ill is beyond belief: medieval persecution, unique in the developed world.

Rosemarie H. Tucker

Kalihi