I finally received an emailed letter from Lazy Mazie.
I'll address it by paragraph:
Dear Mr. X. XXXXX,
Thank you for contacting me about firearms regulation and gun safety. With the recent racially-driven,
hate-fueled shooting in Buffalo, New York and the senseless murder of nineteen elementary school
students and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, and countless other mass shootings that have made national
headlines, the horror of gun violence continues to plague our communities. This is a uniquely American
problem, as the incidence of domestic terror, mass shootings, and school shootings in our country is
significantly higher than other countries.
First, they (I assume her staff) didn't get my name right. Addressed the email to my Middle Initial and Last Name.
Second, she starts off her "explanation" with nothing but emotion-driven verbiage, evoking motives for violence such as "racially-driven" and "hate-fueled". So far to my knowledge, the shooter in the Uvalde elementary school incident was not racially-driven or hate-filled (a term that implies hatred of a specific group or person). According to the only supported theory, he was angry because he wasn't going to be allowed to graduate high school. He shot his grandmother in the face, stole her truck, and wound up crashing it near the elementary school. Hirono is trying to build emotion on a flimsy foundation of unsupported assumptions.
As for this situation being "uniquely American," that talking point has been debunked many times by statistics.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/debunking-the-myth-of-americas-unique-gun-problemMore than 100 Americans die each day from gun violence, and firearms are now the leading
cause of death for children and teens in the United States, more than deaths from car accidents,
cancer, or COVID-19. Of all the children who are killed with firearms in high-income countries,
91 percent live in the United States. While Hawaii is fortunate to have a relatively low incidence
of gun violence, this is a nationwide concern that requires national action.
The first line is taken directly from anti-gun talking points. But, she stopped short of giving the WHOLE stat.
Of the 100 Americans who die from gun-inflicted injuries, 39 -- just over 33% -- are homicides. 64 are suicides, and 3 are in "other forms", I assume meaning unintentional. Including suicides and accidents in "gun violence" is a bit dishonest. The breakout of the numbers is contained in the same place she or her staff likely found the "100 Americans" number:
https://efsgv.org/learn/type-of-gun-violence/gun-violence-in-the-united-states/As for children, the CDC and other anti-gun agencies group young adults as old as 19 in the "teen" and "children" categories. Many of the gun-related deaths among these "children" are due to gun violence and living in high crime neighborhoods (Chicago). Having the country's strictest gun laws didn't fix Chicago's gun violence problem, so pushing that policy nationwide will have the same effect: nothing.
Same is true when trying to compare Hawaii to other states. Sure, we have a relatively low gun violence problem, but much of that stems from our isolation and the "small community" aspect of being on an island. There are roughly the same number of people on Oahu as there are guns in the hands of the people. If the mere existence of guns were a problem, don't you think our gun crime rate would be much higher? Obviously there are other factors here besides the law. If someone is going to commit a crime, does anyone believe they would avoid using a gun in order to abide by gun laws? "I was going to commit a violent crime, but I didn't because of the strict gun laws," said nobody ever.
In June, Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX) led negotiations on bipartisan
legislation aimed at improving gun safety laws and investing in mental health programs. The
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, S.2938, which is now law, provides funding for states to
implement crisis intervention programs, closes the boyfriend loophole to protect victims of
domestic violence, enhances background checks for individuals under the age of 21 who seek
to purchase a firearm, takes action against gun trafficking and straw purchases, and provides
funding for mental health programs and school security. I voted in favor of the Bipartisan Safer
Communities Act, which passed in the Senate with a strong 65-33 vote on June 23, 2022, and
was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022.
While the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act makes meaningful progress towards strengthening
our gun safety laws, we must do more to protect our communities from the scourge of gun violence.
I will continue to support a national assault weapons ban stronger restrictions on sales to all those
convicted of domestic violence or other crimes, background checks for all firearms transactions,
among other policies.
The government has had laws in place to "take action against straw purchasers/gun trafficking," but the DOJ fails to prosecute the vast majority of those cases. Why? How will more laws fix the DOJ's problem of letting those who already violate these laws walk?
And calling a bill "Bi-Partisan Safer Communities Act" doesn't magically make anyone actually safer. It just makes the people who want gun control FEEL safer. The entire bill is about paying money to states who create qualifying programs whether or not they are effective at reducing violence.
Most studies, including multiple studies released by the CDC, found that the 1994 assault weapons ban had NO IMPACT on gun violence. Since the number of crimes in which so-called assault weapons were used is super small, there's not going to be any measurable improvement by banning these weapons. There are states that banned assault weapons, but they have seen the largest number of incidents with such weapons -- CA and NY come to mind.
Background checks are not a silver bullet. They don't catch people who should not be buying guns unless the information is actually part of the background check system. Anyone who successfully avoided being arrested, involved in a domestic abuse case, or identified and treated for a mental health issue won't be flagged not matter how thoroughly the system looks into anyone's background. If someone is denied a purchase, there are other ways to acquire a firearm outside the normal FFL channels.
I understand that we may disagree on some or all of these points. I hope we can agree that
we need to do better to prevent people from committing these heinous acts of violence, which
have ended the lives of countless Americans and shattered the lives of countless others.
Again, thank you for contacting me. If you would like to stay in touch with me on this or other
issues of importance to you, please visit my website at: http://www.hirono.senate.gov. Please
do not hesitate to contact me again in the future if I may be of assistance to you in any way.
She's very close to stating the only thing she got right: both sides of the gun control debate want the same thing -- fewer innocent people killed. Unfortunately, the only real solution that works is to be prepared to stop the threat WHEN (not if) someone decides to commit murder. Plenty of warning signs with the Uvalde killer, but nobody stopped him even after the Cops were informed he was dangerous.
Based on Uvalde, the Cops were incompetent in keeping guns away from him, the Cops were unable to get permission to stop him as he entered the school, and the Cops were cowards, waiting for someone to tell them what to do as kids lay dying and being shot.
Trust the government to keep us safe? No thanks.