BY CHRISTOPHER BAKER – “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
This quote of the Second Amendment, until recent times, had little meaning to many states within the United States. That is until a legal case, challenging the handgun ban in the District of Columbia, was brought to the Supreme Court of the United States.
In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Heller v. District of Columbia that the possession of a firearm, for the purpose of self-defense, was an individual right found within the Second Amendment to the U.S. constitution.
Following Heller, on June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court decided on another case which challenged the Chicago gun ban; this ban was also ruled unconstitutional, and the decision affirmed that the Second Amendment applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment.
The right to keep and bear arms was also determined to be a fundamental constitutional right, putting it on par with the freedom of speech and religion. Therefore, citizens of our state should be authorized to exercise this right, safely and responsibly in all non-sensitive places.
The City & County of Honolulu officials have consistently restricted and continue to burden citizens who want the right to keep and bear arms, especially in non-sensitive public places. For a timeline exceeding 15 years, no citizen has been allowed to carry a firearm to defend themselves or their family. Many citizens have fallen victim to this violation of their constitutional rights, some paying the ultimate price.
Additionally, many believe that Hawaii businesses are afforded more protection than most citizens. By carrying a loaded and openly displayed firearm, many banks and other business are authorized to protect their assets out in public. These assets are commonly serialized and documented ensuring that they can be replaced and tracked.
Most of the time these assets are also insured by either government agencies or private companies — protecting the company from any real loss; yet they are still authorized to carry weapons, because it deters criminals. Our children and families however, are not serialized, not insured by the government, and cannot be replaced.
Lastly, in an effort to change these broken laws, a local group, Hawaii Concealed Carry, was formed in 2010 to promote the safe and responsible bearing of firearms, for the purpose of self-defense. They are based on Oahu, and are working to assist all Hawaiian islands in the restoration and exercise of their fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Hawaii residents are encouraged to exercise their fundamental right by applying to their local City and County Police departments for a permit to carry a firearm, openly or concealed, for the purpose of protecting yourself and your family
Information on applying for your Hawaii concealed or open carry permit can be found at www.hawaiiccw.com
Submitted by Christopher Baker, spokesperson for Hawaii Concealed Carry. Reach him at chris@hawaiiccw.com
I have received quite a few e-mails claiming Hawaii is one of the safest places in the nation. People claiming there are no crime problems; people claiming that our women are safe. Read the following and if you feel up to it, refute the *facts* provided from the 2009 FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Hawaii is actually 15th in the nation for violent crime; we rank seventh in the nation for least murders — it’s important to note that Vermont, who has constitutional carry, meaning no permit is required to conceal a weapon or openly carry a firearm, ranks #2 for the least violent crime in America (based on 2009 UCR).
Hawaii is ranked 25th in the nation for least forcible rapes, with 30.3 rapes per 100k base. That women in half of America are raped less then our beautiful island women.
Hawaii ranks 17th in the nation for least amount of aggravated assaults. If you didn’t count Puerto Rico, Vermont would be the most statistically safe place a person could go to not get assaulted.
With 708.6 burglaries reported last year, Hawaii ranks 32nd in the nation for most burglaries. I guess 64% of America being less likely to fall victim to a burglary. This isn’t too bad right? People enjoy being robbed, don’t they?
It’s a good thing we are not playing golf, because our numbers keep going up. We are however, getting closer to some better crime.
In 2009, Hawaii was honored with making one statistics within the top ten for all states in the nation. This award was for having some of the worst property crime in the nation. Having a reported 3,661.2 property crimes committed per 100,000 people, we are ranked 40th in the nation for the *MOST* property crime in America.
In an effort to achieve #1 in at least some sort of ranking. It looks like we are working diligently to make that award larceny. I think we have a good plan; that is if our plan is the following.
If having a tourist leave a vacation spot with fewer items and possessions than they came with is Hawaii’s goal, we could probably only be beaten by the Casino’s in Vegas. The FBI data shows 2,580.5 cases of larceny were being reported in 2009. That puts our “friendly aloha state” coming in 5th place for the most larceny committed in the country. Two more slots and we can get the bronze medal to hang in our trophy case. Our legislators must want the gold the way our state is going.
If you can’t beat them — tie, right? Well, we tied — with ourselves. The following brought me to realize, who needs Geico? We could probably save 15% or more on car insurance by preventing *criminals* from stealing our cars. Hawaii again ranks 5th in the nation for the MOST cars stolen per capita. No wonder we like the bus; you can pretty much bet it’s going to be there in morning. I guess the same can’t be said for our own vehicles.See More
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Chris, the people who claim Hawaii is one of the safest places might not feel that way if they are a victim of a violent crime. Any one crime is one too many. Why shouldn’t people be allowed to defend themselves from people who want to cause them harm? What is so controversial about that?
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