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Tough on guns

Tough on guns

I want to thank all of our policymakers in Hawaii who have been the most vigilant of all the states in regulating firearms.

Reading the news these days, you see one article after the next of innocent people being gunned down by another idiot/coward with a gun — many innocent children, even.

This week, I read another tragic article about a father trying to protect his child from being kidnapped during a carjacking, and he was brutally shot in the face like an animal. When does it end?

Now, we also have a huge problem with dangerous drugs in the mix, and those people and even the mentally ill, thanks to our latest administration, have easy access to guns. Even assault weapons! Where and when will they finally draw the line? How many innocents have to die? This just doesn’t happen in most civilized places and even more uncivilized ones.

I left the mainland for good in 1974 when Florida was the 13th state to pass carrying concealed weapons. I saw the writing on the wall then, and its only gotten much, much worse. I lived around the world after that and felt safe, even in the wildest of places.

The “no access to guns” mentality is just plain different. It’s reassuring to its citizens that their policymakers care more about their citizens than the gun manufacturers. Plain and simple. I sailed to the Big Island in 2012 with my husband (Canadian) and fell in love with it, so we ended up retiring our sails and moving here.

Hawaii is the only state in the United States I could consider living, and it’s all about the guns and the mentality of guns. Every state has enough problems without arming its crazies. Where were all those “good” concealed-weapon carriers when this poor guy tried to protect his child? You never hear about them protecting anyone! They’re probably out marching for the Ku Klux Klan, white supremacists or whatever, guns exposed front and center, fully locked and loaded, looking for a fight — cowards who only have any bravery when they’re in a group.

I, for one, am really sick in my heart for what has become of the country I once loved — my country. I’m American through and through, I can’t deny it. But we are now looked at with embarrassment and pity from those countries that still uphold the fantastic values I was raised with.

I thank and honor from the bottom of my heart those Hawaii representatives and senators, excellent and honorable models for our children, who stand against the powerful military industrial complex, NRA and weapon manufacturers who seem to have full control of our government.

I also thank our local officials for regulating and enforcing our stricter gun laws here. Please keep up the great work of protecting all of our citizens and our beautiful state.

Joan Hildal

Keaau