title:  Hawaii Does What Republicans Won’t And Reduces The NRA To Wetting Themselves In Fear
text: All Republicans had to do is ban suspected terrorists from buying guns and pass a universal background checks law. But they chose to listen to the NRA, and now states like Hawaii are bringing the hammer down on guns.The American people are demanding legislative action to prevent future mass shootings and reduce the number of gun violence incidents in this country. Simple fixes like universal background checks and banning terrorist suspects from buying guns legally would have satisfied most Americans.But because Republicans are owned by the NRA they refused to act and now all gun owners are paying the price for their failure to be responsible.Hawaii has the lowest gun death rate of any state in the nation and the island chain s strict gun laws are the main reason why.And now Governor David Ige has signed three bills that take gun regulations to another level.Introduced by Democratic state Rep. Will Espero, SB 2954 requires police to place the names of gun owners in the state in the FBI monitoring database so that law enforcement in Hawaii will be informed if any of their residents commit a crime wherever they go in the United States. So if a Hawaiian commits a crime in New York the police in Hawaii will be notified so they can determine if that person should still get to be in possession of firearms.In addition, HB 625 stalking and sexual harassment now disqualify people who commit these crimes from buying guns and HB 2632 requires people who have been diagnosed with major mental disorders to surrender their guns to authorities.In all, these three measures make it clear that Hawaii is done taking shit from the NRA.Of course, it didn t take long for the NRA to whine about the bills. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action, which really should change that last word to  Inaction,  predictably condemned the new laws. The exercise of an individual s Second Amendment rights is not inherently suspicious and should not require a person to surrender other civil liberties, including unwarranted invasions of privacy or unequal treatment under the law. The lawful acquisition, possession, carrying, or use of a firearm does not justify subjecting citizens to ongoing monitoring. Sorry, NRA. But that s what happens when you refuse to do anything reasonable to prevent gun violence other than offering  thoughts and prayers.  If you can t agree on anything to keep guns solely in the hands of responsible citizens, the government has the power and the right to do it without your support.NRA spokesperson Amy Hunter complained that the laws go too far, which is coming from an organization that believes ANY law restricting guns goes too far. As you can imagine, the NRA finds this one of the most extreme bills we ve ever seen,  she whined.At this point, if the NRA and their Republican puppets continue to refuse to do anything reasonable to reduce gun violence in this country, the states should do whatever it takes to make everyone as safe from gun violence as possible, even if it means putting every gun owner on an FBI list. Rep. Espero understands this and he s also a gun owner.Republicans and the NRA only have themselves to blame for not agreeing to be reasonable in the first place. They had a chance to DO something and they failed spectacularly. Now it s up to the states and Hawaii is setting an example for other states to follow.Featured image via Guns Wikia