Hawaii to ban pocket knives

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Page Nine: Pocket Knife Ban

Pocket Knife Ban
The lamestream media told you:

Nothing.


The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that:

Hawaii, the island paradise that has long been a haven for tyrannical government denial of civil rights, with virtual bans on the Second Amendment, has introduced a bill to ban pocket knives of any type. Knives are theoretically protected under the Second Amendment, whose careful wording protects "arms" and not just firearms.

No criminal activity or intent is required. Mere possession of the private property is all that's needed, if the bill passes.

Senate Bill 126 defines a pocket knife as "a knife with a blade that folds into the handle and which is suitable for carrying in the pocket." Blade length doesn't matter. The bill then proposes that "Any person who knowingly manufactures, sells, transfers, possesses, or transports a pocket knife in the State shall be guilty of a misdemeanor."

It adds that, once enacted, "no person shall import or manufacture pocket knives into the State for the purpose of selling or distributing pocket knives." No criminal charges have been filed against the people proposing the blatantly anti-rights law, who have no legitimate delegated authority to do so.

The bill's chances of passage are unknown, but if enacted, it would take effect on January 1, 2010. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer could not be reached to see if he plans a national version of Hawaii's proposed common-sense law.


Posted by The Uninvited Ombudsman on Sunday, May 10, 2009 | Permalink

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessio...lls/SB126_.PDF

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Measure History

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[chroode]

To whom it may concern,

I am greatly concerned about the legislation proposed to ban pocket knives. This legislation should NOT pass. This legislation is a ridiculous waste of the legislators time. As any rational and informed person knows, no weapons bans of any type will keep the criminally minded person from obtaining them.

My wife has visited your islands multiple times and we were planning a trip there together. But this legislation on top of your gun bans has changed our minds. We do not feel safe traveling to a destination such as yours that does not give us the right to protect ourselves from being robbed or murdered.

I suggest that in the future if you want me or my families tourist dollars, you will defeat this bill and do everything in your power to enact legislation that will allow decent honest citizens the right to carry concealed handguns and weapons

[DarrellM5]

Here's what I just sent their Governor.

Dear Governor Lingle,

I'm writing to express my grave concern over SB126, which would ban pocket knives. It's bad enough that Hawaii won't recognize other states concealed weapon permits, but banning pocket knives is outrageous. What's next, pointed sticks and hard candy? My wife and I really want to visit Hawaii. We normally don't visit, or even transact business with, states that violate our right to protect ourselves. We were thinking of making an exception next year to visit Hawaii. If pocket knives are banned, it will send a clear message to everyone that the State of Hawaii is not interested in the safety and security of their citizens or tourists. Then we will scratch Hawaii off of our wish list for good. Please take a firm stand against this proposed law, which violates the 2nd Amendment and only affects law abiding citizens. I hope to visit your great State soon.

Thank you for your time,

[chroode]

Thank you for your comments.

However, some additional information might be helpful for you to know –

Here is a link to the ‘status,’ or ‘history’ sheet for 2009’s SB126: Measure History. If you open that document, you’ll note that the ‘introducer,’ Senator Ihara, has b/r after his name. That means that he introduced the bill by request, meaning that an individual – probably a constituent – asked him to introduce the bill. Bills are often introduced by request as a courtesy on behalf of a constituent; the term sometimes denotes that the legislator isn’t necessarily supportive of its content.

Also, look at the history of SB126. You’ll see that it was introduced, passed first reading, and given a committee assignment. That’s all that happened to it. This set of occurrences happens to all bills which are introduced. Notice too, that SB126 never got a hearing. In other words, the Senate’s Judiciary and Government Operations (JGO) chose not to consider the bill. Since our legislature ended five weeks ago, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about your pocket knives becoming illegal in Hawaii. (Technically, this bill is still alive, since 2009 was the first year of a 2-year legislative cycle. So it could, theoretically, still be considered next year, but that is highly highly unlikely.)

I am bemused, I must confess, that a retired New York policeman would be afraid to come to Hawaii because we have such strict gun control laws here, considering how much safer Hawaii is than most other states. Or at least, that was my assumption. I decided to do a bit of research before I responded to you, because it’s never a good idea to operate on the basis of assumptions.

So I performed a public records search related to ‘crime’ in Hawaii and New York. Here are links to some relevant statistics for 2005:

Hawaii Crime Statistics

New York Crime Statistics

If you open those documents, you’ll see that New York had one crime for every 39.15 people that year. Hawaii, by contrast, had one crime for every 19.81 people. This supports your contention that Hawaii is not a safe place, relative to New York.

But dig just a teeny bit deeper, and you’ll find some information that broadens our information base:

Hawaii Crime Statistics for 2005

With a total population of 1,275,194, Hawaii had a total crime index of 64,368 or 1 crime for every 19.81 people.

Of which 5.05% (3,253) were of a violent nature while 94.95% (61,115) were crimes against property.

Crime Rank
based on number of crimes per capita
#46
Safety Rank
based on number of violent crimes per capita
#10
*States are ranked from #1 (best) to #51 (worst) for each of the 50 states, including District of Columbia.

Here is the corresponding information for New York:
New York Crime Statistics for 2005
With a total population of 19,254,630, New York had a total crime index of 491,829 or 1 crime for every 39.15 people.
Of which 17.45% (85,839) were of a violent nature while 82.55% (405,990) were crimes against property.
Violent Crimes
Crime Rank
based on number of crimes per capita
#6
Safety Rank
based on number of violent crimes per capita
#30
*States are ranked from #1 (best) to #51 (worst) for each of the 50 states, including District of Columbia.

According to this information, Hawaii ranked 46th (of 51) in the nation for crimes, while New York was 6th in the nation.
Of the crimes committed here, 5.05% were violent. New York’s violent crimes, meanwhile, accounted for 17.45%, more than 3 times Hawaii’s percentage.
Likewise, Hawaii was in 10th place for safety (1st place being the safest region), while New York ranked 30th, (51 being the most dangerous), placing well into the bottom half of the rankings.
So perhaps you might want to visit anyway. Feel free to bring your pocket knife if you come – you never know when you might want to open a bottle of wine for a picnic with your wife, or perhaps slice open the cellophane wrapping on a Hawaiian music CD.

I hope this is helpful information.
Public Access Room (PAR)
A Division of the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB)
Hawaii State Legislature
State Capitol, Room 401
415 S. Beretania St.
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Phone: 808/587-0478*
TTY: 808/587-0749
Fax: 808/587-0793
Email: par@capitol.hawaii.gov
Website: Hawaii Legislature's Public Access Room

* Toll Free from All Islands
Hawai'i..........974-4000, ext. 7-0478
Maui..............984-2400, ext. 7-0478
Kaua'i............274-3141, ext. 7-0478
Moloka'i/Lana'i...(800) 468-4644, ext. 7-0478
Oahu..............587-0478

[Ryan H]

So you're saying that one is simply less likely to get attacked when visiting Hawaii instead of New York? What does this have to do with protecting oneself when placed into the percentage getting attacked???

[chroode]

You didn’t print your name,

But whom ever you are, thank you for your response. Thank you for also letting me know that this ridiculous proposal has died.

As to your comment about me being “afraid”. There is a difference in being “afraid” and being “cautious” (showing, using, or characterized by caution: a cautious man; To be cautious is often to show wisdom).

Having been a police officer and a sergeant, I know that statistics means nothing to the person that is having a crime such as assault, rape, or murder occurring to them at the time. A police response of 10 minutes, 5 minutes, or even 2 minutes, does nothing to stop the feeling of pain, and knowledge of impending death to a person being struck, stabbed, or shot. As a famous court decision has shown, the police DO NOT have a duty to protect citizens. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/po.../28scotus.html

Crime happens every where, since it has in the beginning of time. Criminals will use whatever tools are available to them to inflict injury to gain their objective. They do not follow rules, laws, or moral standards. The law abiding respectful persons, that are productive to society, do follow the rules and laws that govern them. To make or keep laws that restrict these abiding souls from being able to repel the criminal element, condemns them to become one of those very same statistics that you quoted.

Danger faces a person somewhere at some time in their life, and just like death we don’t know when that will be. Whether a person is in a large metropolitan city or in the woods with nobody for miles, danger exists, from a criminal or from a wild animal. Taking precautions such as keeping a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, and wearing a seatbelt while driving, I like thousand of others chose to carry a gun to protect ourselves and our families from harm. We also will purposely avoid those areas which restrict our ability to have that protection. Thus it brings me back to my original e-mail, I will not visit Hawaii if my wife and I cannot LEAGALLY carry our guns for protection.

The discussion of this very subject, is taking place on at least to pro-gun forums that are accessed and read by thousands. I would hope that the legislators of Hawaii will listen to the people who live and visit your state instead of a few uniformed people who feel that they can control crime with a piece of paper.

Signed XXXX

"A citizen who shirks his duty to contribute to the security of his community is little better than the criminal who threatens it."

[Sheldon]

In Hawaii that is.... put 10 people in a room women included anywhere in the USA and 9 of them will have a knife in one form or another on them.....

[DebS]

Is this the same push to make citizens who carry pocket knives across state lines a felon?

Link to story.

Please act now....I believe our guns are next.

LETTERS need to be in the mail within the next week or so. The following alert from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is urgent and time sensitive. The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is doing this quietly and only allowing a 30-day window for comments from the public - written on paper and sent to them through the US Mail. The deadline for their receipt of comments is June 21 (which is a Sunday so the real deadline might be June 20.)

We are encouraging people to submit USPS WRITTEN comments to CBP telling them not to create all sorts of potential problems by trying to solve a problem that isn't a problem at all.

We also ask that you start EMAILING on your Senators and Representative demanding that they rein in CBP and then fix the issue permanently by repealing the useless ban on switchblades.

Write Customs & Border Patrol NOW! Sample letter and address here.

Write your Representatives and Senators NOW! Sample letter here.