Knife ban

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This mornings "Shooting wire Newsletter contained the following  ( www.shootingwire.com)


And I'm offering Kudos to Doug Ritter of KnifeRights.org for taking a slice out of a Hawaiian bill that was introduced to - you guessed it - outlaw the pocket knife. Having been one of those people who has been accused of being paranoid, I think it's appropriate that Ritter was the first to tell about Hawaii Senate Bill 126. It would ban the "manufacturing, transfer, sale, possession or transportation of folding knives."

When Ritter first told of the bill, he also took the opportunity to blister State Senator Les Ihara for introducing a bill "by request" - meaning at the request of a constituent, not legislation Ihara had developed himself. In other words, a political introduction - that's "eyewash" in Washington-speak.

"It is imperative," wrote Ritter, "that Senator Ihara understand that knife owners do not take such things lightly."

Boy, did he make that point abundantly clear.

Yesterday, we were copied on a note sent by Senator Ihara to Ritter. Seems he's seen the error of his ways about introducing legislation he never intended to support:

"I am opposed to SB 126 and would vote against it if I ever voted on it. Because the Hawaii constitution allows only legislators to introduce bills, my policy has been to introduce bills on behalf of my constituents whenever requested. But if I cannot support a constituent bill, I sign it "by request" which signals to other senators that I am not requesting a public hearing for it. I believe this is a common view of many in the legislature, except for the senate president who introduce all Executive and Judiciary Branch bills "by request" though she may support some of them."

"In my 22 years in the Hawaii Legislature, I have signed many constituent bills 'by request', but I may now reconsider this policy and possibly refuse to introduce a constituent's bill in extreme situations (such as SB 126). Thank you for your inquiry and for helping to inspire the several hundred emails I received opposing SB 126. I am encouraged for our democracy by seeing so many people interested in public policy issues."