You know where people with criminal intent love to wave guns at people? Places without guns. Hawaii now shows us once again that the progressive war on firearms is less about fighting actual crime, and more about fleecing the innocent of a means of protection.
Currently, the Hawaii Legislature is pondering a bill which would ban firearms from “sensitive” areas, as well as require gun owners to receive explicit permission from property owners to carry a gun on their property.
According to JustTheNews.com who broke the story, House Bill 984 states that “sensitive” areas include “hospitals, schools, anywhere children gather, places that sell alcohol, amusement parks, banks, public parks and homeless and domestic violence shelters.”
Jeez, not like criminals have ever gone into banks, schools, liquor stores and hospitals with guns before. Smart move!
To make matters more difficult, this would also require responsible and legal gun owners to register their weapons every four years and pay a fee of $150 per gun.
Hawaii lawmakers considering sweeping gun control bill | Just The News https://t.co/880gmjKPNK
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) March 21, 2023
Punishing the Law Abiding
The House of Representatives earlier in March had already passed the bill, and from there it passed through he Senate Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee just last week.
According to Hawaii’s Attorney General, this bill resulted from the decision regarding the New York State and Pistol Association v. Bruen ruling from the Supreme Court last year.
“The Supreme Court’s Bruen decision represents a very significant and disruptive change for our State,” said Anne Lopez, the state Attorney General. “In the wake of Bruen, many more people are applying for licenses to carry a firearm. Under Bruen, those licenses shall be granted unless there is an objective statutory basis requiring denial. This will result in a significant increase in the presence of firearms in public, with more individuals carrying concealed weapons in Hawaii than ever before in our State’s history. This presents serious challenges for public health and safety.”
Does it cause a challenge though? Does it really? It seems more like legal and law abiding citizens are just expressing their legal right, and because these anti-gun politicians aren’t happy with them, they have to create problems that aren’t there in order to legislate ways to make things difficult.
RELATED: Biden Wants To Emulate California’s (Failed) Gun Laws
Fighting a Bad Trend
Hawaii is following a bad trend set forth by states like New Jersey and New York since the Bruen ruling. By “bad” I really mean potentially illegal, which is the same conclusion U.S. District Court Judge Renee Marie Bumb came to when she filled a restraining order earlier this year which prevented New Jersey form pushing the “sensitive areas” section of their law.
“The state may regulate conduct squarely protected by the Second Amendment only if supported by a historical tradition of firearm regulation,” said Bumb in her ruling. “Here, defendants cannot demonstrate a history of firearm regulation to support these challenged provisions.”
Opponents of the Hawaiian bill, such as the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, are willing to legally fight this in court if it goes through.
“We issue a caution to Hawaii legislators that making changes to our current laws that impact the second amendment will open the state and counties to lawsuits,” said Andrew Namiki Roberts, director of the coalition. “These will challenge not only the changes but the state’s current laws and policies. Government lawyers, when asked, are sure to claim to be able to defend the changes/laws, but history is not on their side. They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars without a single success.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below and across social media.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”