On New Year’s Day, in the early hours of 2024, Honolulu police responded to calls that a woman had been shot while driving on Moanalua Freeway. Later that same day, in what Mayor Blangiardi referred to as an “unusual” high speed chase down University Avenue, the woman’s ex-boyfriend — a convicted felon and “prohibited owner” — used an unregistered AR-15 to shoot at law enforcement officers trying to apprehend him.

This is an unusual situation for Hawaii, especially considering our strong laws. Yet, with the apparent easy access to guns and concurrent push by Second Amendment adherents to ease access to guns, these events are unfolding more often.

According to reports by Task and Purpose, 68% of mass shooters either killed a family member during their shooting or had committed a prior act of domestic violence. Those stats are a sobering reflection of our society and a kahea, a call to action.

On Nov. 5, 2015, I received the call that every parent dreads: My adult daughter, Elizabeth, and youngest child, had been found dead in her newly purchased marital home. Elizabeth had been shot in the back of her head with her spouse’s newly purchased gun, wrapped in a blanket, and left in her bathtub. She was only 24 years old and studying to become a social worker. Elizabeth left behind a 4-year-old son, Ikaika, who will never know the truly special woman who birthed him.

Despite the odd circumstances, Georgia law enforcement ruled Elizabeth’s death a suicide by gun.

No one can anticipate how they will respond to the death of a child, and most survivors of violence have finite emotional and financial resources to draw upon. My decision was to focus on recovery first, and justice later. One part of my personal recovery efforts include participating with other community members to develop rules and laws intended to mitigate the instances of gun violence in Hawaii.

Like recovery from grief and loss, the efforts to maintain Hawaii’s reputation as the “Aloha State” has been challenged by those who believe their Second Amendment right to “bear arms” trumps the unalienable, individual rights expressed in the Preamble of the United States Declaration of Independence; namely, the rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

There is an aggressive political movement afoot by some residents and local leaders, intended to squash any HPD rule making related to recently passed legislation related to the registration and concealed carry of guns by private citizens.

These Second Amendment adherents want you to believe that “constitutional carry” — carrying a gun without permit or concealment — is within their rights. Second Amendment adherents want you to believe that your rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness comes after their right to carry their guns into Times Supermarket or Hele Gas Station. Or to the beach or park. These Second Amendment adherents want you to believe that the police aren’t able to handle enforcement of the laws and that the courts have failed to protect their interests.

I don’t believe them, and neither should you.

I am asking you to listen to the stories of survivors of gun violence. Hear our struggles and our recommendations to prevent the loss of more lives to gun violence. I am also asking you not to believe that “constitutional carry” is a sacrosanct or necessary right. The right to bear arms is and must be weighed against the primary rights to life and liberty, as well as the right to happiness for those of us who don’t wish to bear arms.

Second Amendment adherents ignore the anecdotal data, which shows that more Americans are taking their personal frustrations and aggressions out with a gun.

Second Amendment adherents callously ignore the loss of rights caused by gun violence, whenever an individual citizen’s constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is forever silenced by a gun. Hawaii has long been a mostly peaceful locale, with relatively low rates of gun violence — and many of us want to keep it that way.

Honolulu resident ‘Ilima DeCosta is Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, born and raised in Koolaupoko.