In 2023, The Washington Post did a detailed report on the ballistic impact of bullets from an assault rifle on the bodies of children. They used autopsies from the grade school children shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.
As pediatricians, we have dedicated our lives to the health of children. As we pored over the images in this report, we were grateful that something like this has never happened in Hawaii.
Yet, we were shocked to find out that Hawaii does not ban military-style assault rifles like the AR-15 — the guns used to kill children in Newtown, Parkland, Uvalde, and more.
We don’t ban them today — but we’re close.
This week, with just one collective vote, the state Legislature can send historic legislation to Gov. Josh Green’s desk to comprehensively stop the sale of assault weapons. But close is not good enough. This bill must become law, and we believe it’s our duty to let lawmakers know we in the medical community support it.
A recent survey showed that three-quarters of Hawaii residents support an assault weapons ban. If that isn’t enough for lawmakers, consider the fact that two-thirds of local gun owners also support this policy.
We also feel as though we’re hearing more about shootings on the news these days. Perhaps that’s because Hawaii has experienced a 280% increase in gun permit applications since 2000. There are simply more guns out there, and many of them are assault rifles.
The truth is, we can’t be certain that our hospitals are ready for a mass casualty event like a school shooting. Of course, we’ve talked about it and prepared for it, but who can be truly ready for something like that? We desperately hope that we never have to encounter such a tragedy.
Putting a comprehensive ban on assault weapons just makes sense and will protect our keiki. In voicing this issue we feel we are fulfilling our Hippocratic oath. This is especially true now that gunshot injuries have become the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. This isn’t yet true of Hawaii, and we’ll do anything to keep it that way.
Sure, there will still be dangerous weapons out there. This bill won’t take away guns from people who legally own them before the law goes into effect. And this bill doesn’t ban most guns.
But this bill will significantly reduce the likelihood that a dangerous person in Hawaii can get their hands on a weapon designed for war by making it extremely hard to obtain a military-style assault weapon. It will also prevent gun companies, who have made $11 billion on selling guns like the AR-15 since the Sandy Hook shooting, from continuing to profit off of tragedy in our state.
The truth is that medical professionals want this law, teachers want this law, parents want this law, and the vast majority of the people in the state want this law. We believe that it’s time for our lawmakers to listen to experts, listen to the people, and pass Senate Bill 401.
We will be calling our state senators and representatives today to let them know that we support SB 401. We encourage you to do the same so that we can all keep our keiki safer from gun violence.
This essay is authored collectively by the board of the American Academy of Pediatrics Hawaii Chapter: Jeffrey Okamoto, M.D., FAAP, is president, Joseph Gary Dela Cruz, M.D., FAAP, is vice president and Michael Ching, M.D., FAAP, is immediate past president.
