Hawaii Lame-O: State Wants to Repeal Second Amendment

I’ve got your “aloha” right here.

Shaka, brah. You don’t seem to be doing real well with this whole “America” thing…

You know how, every single time the anti-gunners get going with some cockamamie gun-ban scheme, they love to condescendingly tell us that nobody’s trying to take away our guns? The next time you hear that particular canard, I recommend you direct the speaker to HR167, the resolution passed yesterday by the Hawaiian state House of Representatives. In it, they plaintively beg the federal government to hurry up and repeal the Second Amendment already. Their reasoning? Let me quote them:

“WHEREAS, under this ‘individual right theory’, the United States Constitution restricts legislative bodies from prohibiting firearm possession, or at the very least, the Second Amendment renders prohibitory and restrictive regulation presumptively unconstitutional…”

Yes, you read that correctly: The problem for them is that since the 2008 D.C. vs. Heller Supreme Court case, it has become accepted constitutional law that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms…not a “collective right,” which basically protects nothing. They’d really like to get going with some prohibitory and restrictive regulation, but that pesky 2A is in the way. Not very aloha of them, wouldn’t you say?

What’s particularly interesting here is that Hawaii was, in living memory, attacked by a foreign power. And why did the Japanese choose to bomb Pearl Harbor instead of going right on ahead and invading the continental U.S.? Because “there’s a rifle behind every blade of grass,” that’s why. The Japanese high command knew that if they invaded California, they wouldn’t just be dealing with the might of the U.S. Army; they’d be dealing with every flatfooted 4-F, housewife, and child old and strong enough to lift a rifle.

Of course, those hostilities are long over, and now the Japanese arrive on Hawaiian shores with cameras and fistfuls of cash. One of the big draws for them to visit the U.S. is to take advantage of a little-known tourist industry that thrives in Hawaii: public gun ranges. The Big Island is literally festooned with flyers, many of them in Kanji characters, offering the chance to go shoot a real, live gun. After all, there are plenty of other tropical Pacific islands that are just as close or closer. However, with this particular move, the state seems to be signaling that they don’t really need all of those tourist dollars after all.

I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I personally enjoy leaving the mainland U.S. for vacation while remaining on American soil, so that brings us to the other non-contiguous and Johnny-come-lately state: Alaska.

That’s more like it.

Alaska may only have beaten Hawaii to statehood by about 9 months, but the 49th state seems to have this whole America thing down pat. (In fact, they seem to be better at it than many of the original 13 colonies, but I digress.) First, they have Constitutional carry. If you can pass a NICS check, you can carry your gun concealed…no permit necessary. Secondly, they have amazing hunting opportunities, including moose, mountain lions, brown bears, Dall sheep, and so much more. If you’re not a hunter, no worries; the fishing’s great, too! You can see the Northern Lights, whales breaching, and see a glacier up close. That’s why I just got done switching my Hawaiian vacation to an Alaskan cruise.

How about you, dear readers?