BY TOM LODGE – Speaking of Hawaii in particular, but gun laws in general, there is a saying floating around that “It’s only a politician that can turn a lawful citizen into a criminal with a stroke of a pen.”
I see a proposed bill online today that bans a plethora of semi-automatic firearms, in fact wants to confiscate them. I see another that wants training of all gun owners on a biennial basis and if you miss, it leads to confiscation. There is yet another that wants you to prove you own the gun you buy ammunition for! Why? You only need to just record who bought ammunition. It’s not complicated and there is no legitimate reason to burden lawful gun owners or shooters with additional requirements and by doing so, you limit opportunity to take advantage of opportunity, something it seems our elected don’t take the time to consider.
I can think of a specific instance in where this would have been the case, in fact. Recently, twenty-two caliber ammunition was on sale at a really good price when I walked into this store, and had I had to go home, rifle my safe for my permits and return, the opportunity would have been lost for they sold out before I could have got back. More burdens, no benefits.
If you want to accomplish something constructive, endow the home and business owner the right to shoot to kill without being arrested for murder if someone invades your establishment or home. Empower the righteous, you know, the ones who pay your salary and contribute to society.
So let’s start with the confiscation of semi-automatics. It’s absolutely amazing that anyone could even consider calling these guns “assault weapons”. This is such a blatant lie that I’m actually disgusted that the HRA, NRA, Gun Owners of America, and just residents of Hawaii aren’t screaming at the top of their lungs about this, one, and two, why are you infringing upon our right to enjoy our firearms on the range and for hunting?
Let’s be accurate!. Assault weapons are machine guns. What Assault weapons aren’t is semi-automatic rifles or pistols, regardless of what it looks like. Magazine limits! This is just another irrelevant restriction that doesn’t touch on the problem. The problem is you have evil in this world and in Hawaii we do not have effective concealed carry laws, meaning we don’t permit them, and here in Hawaii, and everywhere else that you’ve had mass shootings you didn’t have anyone shooting back.
Our military returnees will tell you clearly, you keep your head down when someone returns fire, but we don’t permit it here. Around the country, where it is permitted, there are thousands of instances where the armed citizen has prevented continued carnage and in most cases, from the bloodshed to start with.
The other misconception and in furtherance of the LIE, is that no one needs to hunt with a semi-automatic with a 30 round magazine. AR-15’s, a semi-automatic firearm and nothing else, is the most popular target rifle on the range. Is it because we have a nation of mass murderers? No it is because the AR types are low recoil, accurate, and for self-defense, especially slight individuals, women, small males and children, it is the most compact, accurate and logical home defense system you can have. So what does this tell you? It almost seems that politicians are more about endorsing evil than protecting the innocent!
AR-15’s are extremely popular hunting rifles. They are more than appropriate for all kinds of animals with the varying caliber options available from goats to ground hogs, from big deer to feral hogs, and the argument “no one needs a 30 round magazine to shoot a deer” is correct, but you might just want it on the range during practice. This is hysterical sensationalist rhetoric. Solve the problem rather than unlawfully attacking the most provable of the law abiding by taking their guns away. If you have a gun owner next door, he or she has been tested. Hunting is more than just hunting. Shooting is a wholesome, exhilarating pastime, with hunting being a result of accuracy practice and woodsmanship.
So let’s talk about recurrent training. Again why? We don’t have concealed carry laws in Hawaii so why the requirement for biennial training? Harassment! That is all it is, pure and simple. Register every two years? Why? Annoyance! That is all it is. Why are you trying to harass the law abiding and not the criminal? You might as well require home invaders to have lock picking classes so that they don’t damage our doors and windows.
While I don’t begrudge training, people that hunt prepare for hunting before they go. They train. People that own a handgun for protection only need to know how to point and shoot and understand safe gun handling.. And guess what, that is a requirement you need in order to get a handgun permit. So what is the purpose of the requirement? It is clearly an aggravation and one that leads to confiscation if one misses class.
Why do some of our legislators condemn legitimate gun owners? I don’t see them condemning the police or the military, so why permitted gun owners? We all have a right to keep and bear arms. We all have a right to defend ourselves with the least amount of governmental intrusion. Is there an agenda going on here? Why do they coddle the criminal and persecute the taxpayer? When you look at the police blotter every day, we have criminals being re-arrested time after time after time… why don’t you do something about that instead, or at least let a gun owner do it for you if they are found invading your home?
Let’s be proactive! Let’s enact Castle Doctrine Laws for Hawaii. We have had a number of vicious home invasions in Hawaii and the elderly especially, or anyone else confronted with a crazed aggressor, rarely stand a chance and if one survives the brutality, the physical and mental after affects are long lasting! Let’s empower, not deflower!
Tom Lodge
Hawaii Hunting Association
Sometimes gun laws are stupid but most of them try to create a little bit of safety for the citizen. I also have a rifle for self protection but until now I managed to avoid using it. I'm always keeping it locked in a biometric safe bought last year from https://www.gunsafesnow.com/biometricsafes.aspx.
The criminals should be punished because they are killing the nation ad we can't afford this kind of loss.
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