With the new legislature convening on January 21 next year, we need to pay attention to some key committees and what firearm related bills they might try to pass.

[Updated 12/10/2014]

Here is a Google spreadsheet with the NRA/HRA rating of each committee member
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1etFawwxMtiIgX79OclQwA9IlzX792gzDyTvQvIvokow

Here are the new committee members for 2015.

Senate Committee on Judiciary and Labor (JDL) - 2 pros, 5 unknowns, 0 antis
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=JDL&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=JDL&year=2014

House Committee on Judiciary (JUD) - chair is anti, 6 pros, 5 unknowns, 3 antis
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=JUD&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=JUD&year=2014

Senate Committee on Ways and Means (WAM) - chair is pro, 2 pros, 7 unknowns, 2 antis
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=WAM&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=WAM&year=2014

House Committee on Finance (FIN) - chair is anti, 7 pros, 5 unknowns, 1 anti
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=FIN&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=FIN&year=2014

Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs (PSM) - vice-chair is anti, 1 pro, 2 unknowns, 2 antis
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=PSM&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=PSM&year=2014

House Committee on Public Safety (PBS) - chair and vice-chair are pros, 5 pros, 5 unknowns, 1 anti
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=PBS&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=PBS&year=2014

Senate Committee on Health (HTH) - chair is anti, 2 pros, 3 unknowns, 2 antis
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=HTH&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=HTH&year=2014

House Committee on Health (HLT) - chair is anti, vice-chair is pro, 6 pros, 3 unknowns, 1 anti
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=HLT&year=2015
http://capitol.hawaii.gov/committeepage.aspx?comm=HLT&year=2014

Check out the legislative report from Dr Max Cooper in the November HRA newsletter.

Leadership and committee Chairs in the Senate and House are shuffled. Supportive incumbents won re-election, but so did those who support restrictive gun control.
F-rated Senator Donna Mercado Kim continues as President. The new Senate Judiciary Chair is B-rated Senator Gilbert Keith-Agaran. A-rated Senator Jill Tokuda is the new Chair for Ways and Means.
A-rated Speaker Joe Souki maintains control in the House, but with anti-gun legislators in leadership positions. A-rated Representative Henry Aquino is moved from Chair of the Public Safety Committee, where firearms bills are usually referred before hearings in Judiciary Committee, to Chair of the Transportation Committee. C-rated Representative Gregg Takayama will Chair Public Safety.

The key House Judiciary Committee takes a further left shift. F-rated Chair Karl Rhoads has booted conservatives off his committee, including A+-rated Ken Ito and Sharon Har and A-rated Clift Tsuji, slicking the way for passage of anti-gun bills. THE NEXT TWO YEARS WILL BE DIFFICULT.

Mahalo to all supporters of our 2nd Amendment and hunting heritage who ran, and to those who voted for them.

Looks like we need to get ready to fight (against the antis, not each other) this next 2 years.

Check out the legislative report from Dr Max Cooper in the November HRA newsletter.

Looks like we need to get ready to fight (against the antis, not each other) this next 2 years.

I'm going to post some information about New Hampshire in the next day or two, as examples of how a state government can be run in the real world. I'm hoping that people will use some of the concrete examples from there as suggestions to Hawaii legislators about how the mechanics of government could be more responsive to the preferences of "the people". Of course the legislators would have to actually care about "the people" as more than simply the vehicle that allows them to (possibly) be on the government payroll in perpetuity. Anyway... in light of the committee assignments above, one of the things about New Hampshire is that EVERY single bill introduced MUST be given a full hearing in front of the appropriate committees in a public setting and include public testimony. Just one thing you might want to put on your list of suggestions for Hawaii legislators for the upcoming session, where committee chairpersons have to power to simply set aside any bill they don't like and not even schedule a hearing for it.

That sounds interesting, punaperson. I'd be interested to know too how they made it so.

That's exactly how committee chairs have so much control, by ignoring a bill they don't support.

.

At this point, who cares. Guys weren't even willing to call in sick or sacrifice their day off to rally during the last gun control push; don't see any difference at this time.

No sense in being a winter soldier when 99% of the firearm owners in this state are sunshine patriots.

Hey Q, that's suspiciously close to Hillary's "What difference at this point does it make?", so I'm not sure if you are being at least partly ironic/sarcastic or not.

I agree that we are in a deep hole and that not many people are very interested in working the long difficult haul out... but just because most people are certain that their efforts won't make a difference doesn't mean I can't make some effort... even if it's just informing the legislators of what I know can be done (as per changes made in the state of New Hampshire, which is much more responsive to citizens, AND much more successful in nearly every way (economy, education, personal liberty, lower crime rates, etc.) compared to Hawaii) to make government more responsive, and hope that more and more people will do the same over time. I'm under no delusion that much of significance for our side will change here in Hawaii in the near future due to legislation, but I just need to let the legislators know that there are concrete, specific real-world-tested ways to allow the people more input, and that if they ignore those means, well, they suck and hopefully more people will realize that and eventually get some means to effectively address their grievances. Not gonna be easy. Not gonna be soon. Maybe never. Still gonna do what I can.

.

No where near shitlarry's 'What difference does it make?!', and I wasn't being sarcastic.

I used to be a firm believe that if I did my part, I could change the world. After what I've experienced and learned over the past 5 years, it will take far more than just one, ten, a hundred or a thousand men to make any changes here. There needs to be a revolution of thought and action on a large scale, and it needs to involve those whom simply don't want to sacrifice everything, yet consistent spew out all this molon labe bullshit.

I applaud you for staying the course, but I will still reference that the last time people tried to organize something, all that followed after the battle cry was excuses as to why they couldn't participate. Guess Hawaii is the perfect place for sunshine patriots.

Sorry if I'm moody; quite disappointed after what transgressed today, and further disheartened to know that nothing will be done about it.

While I can sympathize with your frustration (I've been doing this advocacy thing for a lot longer...) I don't think all is lost. The reality is that with a showing like we had for the Instructor Immunity bill, which was about 300 pieces of submitted testimony and about 50 people at the hearing, we can indeed be an influence in the legislative process. Of course the more the better.

But you are correct in that for the most part, the loudest and most vocal folks here (in general) are those that seem to be so conspicuously absent when it's time for the "rubber to meet the road." That needs to change if we are to be successful.

 

22+ years ago, Rey Graulty PISSED OFF my Wife at a gun hearing.  Cut her off, would Not let her testify.

She and some other HRA members(me included) Picketed his fund raiser at 5 pm in the Hot sun at Dole Cannery.

She wore her Mamo Howell muu muu, she was the Only Pro 2a person on the TV news at 10.

She does her part for the 2a movement when she can.

There are, as far as I know, only a handful of Women in the 2A movement.

Why is that?

How many of the Women legislators are Pro 2a?

Something to think about.

Guys (and gals), we all need to learn and understand how the system works so we can be sub-moa one-hole pinpoint accurate in our efforts. Unless you know the rules and how it's played, you can't win the game.

In the legislature, the committees are where the pivot points are. Those are where bills live or die.

If we ever want pro-2a bills to go through in our beautiful aloha state, that is where the road blocks or the checkpoints lie. We need to be very specific in our objectives if we are to win long term.

  House committee(s) -> full house (speaker) -> governor no veto -> bill passes
  Senate committee(s) -> full senate (speaker) ->

We want pro-2a bills to have support at each step of the process.
We want to stop anti-2a bills from reaching the finish line.

Talk to your representatives, especially if they are in an important committee listed in the OP.  Educate them about responsible gun ownership and thank them for supporting our gun rights.  Encourage others to do the same.

If you don't have time to do it yourself, consider joining HRA and contributing a nominal dollar amount to the PAC, so the PAC can be more effective in doing this important work on all our behalf.  The cost of joining HRA is roughly the cost of one box of 45acp ammo.  Consider that for the cost of 1 box of 45acp ammo, you are defending your right to send lead down range by strengthening the group that does the legwork to defend your rights.

Let's not get complacent, especially with the upcoming legislative session in the next 2 years.  We will need to be vigilant in fighting the antis.  One day, the antis may win and strip Americans of our 2nd amendment rights... but let's not allow that to ever happen on our watch.

.

Nice video!  Hmm.. I can't get the tune out of my head now.

Nice video!  Hmm.. I can't get the tune out of my head now.

Hahaha, childhood memories.

.

Guys (and gals), we all need to learn and understand how the system works so we can be sub-moa one-hole pinpoint accurate in our efforts. Unless you know the rules and how it's played, you can't win the game.

In the legislature, the committees are where the pivot points are. Those are where bills live or die.

If we ever want pro-2a bills to go through in our beautiful aloha state, that is where the road blocks or the checkpoints lie. We need to be very specific in our objectives if we are to win long term.

  House committee(s) -> full house (speaker) -> governor no veto -> bill passes
  Senate committee(s) -> full senate (speaker) ->

We want pro-2a bills to have support at each step of the process.
We want to stop anti-2a bills from reaching the finish line.

Talk to your representatives, especially if they are in an important committee listed in the OP.  Educate them about responsible gun ownership and thank them for supporting our gun rights.  Encourage others to do the same.

If you don't have time to do it yourself, consider joining HRA and contributing a nominal dollar amount to the PAC, so the PAC can be more effective in doing this important work on all our behalf.  The cost of joining HRA is roughly the cost of one box of 45acp ammo.  Consider that for the cost of 1 box of 45acp ammo, you are defending your right to send lead down range by strengthening the group that does the legwork to defend your rights.

Let's not get complacent, especially with the upcoming legislative session in the next 2 years.  We will need to be vigilant in fighting the antis.  One day, the antis may win and strip Americans of our 2nd amendment rights... but let's not allow that to ever happen on our watch.

A couple of things to add. First, whether you have time to "do it yourself" or not, please consider joining HRA. Remember, it's difficult to say "we" represent the gun community in Hawaii when the majority of of gun owners are not members. The more members HRA has, the more effective they can be. Second, consider donating to the PAC (HCR-PAC) as unfortunately, politics is about money and without "contributions" to legislators, getting favorable legislation thru is even more difficult.

.

Question: Why didn't HRA hold a protest during the last gun control push here in Hawaii?

If they can show that they mean business (unlike other sunshine patriot, wannabe tactical operator organizations), they will definitely get my support.

I'm just tired of giving money and support to people who will take one step foward and three steps back when the going gets tough.

HRA never answered my question about a bill they supported last session that was opposed by NRA-ILA: "Why do you support a bill that requires registration of "unusable, unserviceable" firearms?" [Of course the real question is: "Why do you support registration of firearms?"]

How complicated could the answer to that question be? Unless the answer is "We go along to get along"... or something along those lines. And that's not complicated, but it does suck.

Question: Why didn't HRA hold a protest during the last gun control push here in Hawaii?

If they can show that they mean business (unlike other sunshine patriot, wannabe tactical operator organizations), they will definitely get my support.

I'm just tired of giving money and support to people who will take one step foward and three steps back when the going gets tough.

Question: What is HRA? A group of like minded individuals. Unfortunately, that group is relatively small. Furthermore, the individuals that make up the subgroup of the whole that do the majority of the work is smaller yet. I keep going back to the fact that many ardent and vocal individuals that criticize the HRA for their perceived lack of progress are the ones that don't participate in the arduous, lengthy, and usually unsatisfying process that is our legislative process. Are you a member? Have you participated in any efforts to drive the HRA in the direction you think it should go? I'm sure the folks that do the day in and day out routines necessary to keep HRA involved and engaged would love to have some more help.

As for "protests" for the last gun control push here, when was that? And do you think protests are more effective than interacting with key legislators to move our agenda forward is going to be less effective than a protest. Especially, if history is any indicator, an anemic and poorly attended one?

HRA never answered my question about a bill they supported last session that was opposed by NRA-ILA: "Why do you support a bill that requires registration of "unusable, unserviceable" firearms?" [Of course the real question is: "Why do you support registration of firearms?"]

How complicated could the answer to that question be? Unless the answer is "We go along to get along"... or something along those lines. And that's not complicated, but it does suck.

I believe the basis for that decision was one of trade offs. Since we already have registration of all firearms, it really wasn't a matter of "Why HRA supports registration of firearms?" We don't. So support of the bill didn't change anything in regards to the registration process. Except, it provided an couple of extra days in which to register your firearms (from 3 to 5). So, let me ask what you would have done: Would you have not supported the bill and kept the registration scheme the same and not increased the time frame to register your firearms?

It's also a matter of political capital. Where does the organization spend its political capital and other limited resources? Should HRA push for, and therefore expend the limited resources on concealed carry when it never even makes it to a committee hearing? What, exactly would that accomplish? And, just like your personal budget, if we spend that capital on one issue, it means it isn't available for another one and right now, for a variety of reasons, our budget isn't very big. Those are the cold, hard facts, the harsh realities of the situation. If you want to change it, there are three basic ways you can go about it.

First, establish your own advocacy organization.
Second, you can join HRA and participate in the process, both by involving yourself in the leadership process and the day to day mundane and routine aspects of running such an organization.
Third, get elected and change the process from the inside.

So, whatcha gonna do? It isn't only HRA that needs to "show that they mean business" or that they aren't "...sunshine patriot, wannabe tactical operator organizations..." who talk big but fail to walk the talk.