Free Republic

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In the 1980s, a young woman from Arroyo Hondo was in the running to be the Taos Fiesta Queen. That summer, she visited the house of a renowned El Prado seamstress many times to get fitted for her elaborate, traditional outfit, always making sure to say “hi” to the woman’s 14-year-old son. She graduated from high school and moved to Albuquerque, where she attended the University of New Mexico. On June 22, 1988, 21-year-old Althea Oakeley was walking home from a party after getting into a disagreement with her boyfriend. It was around 8:15 when she crossed...

House Republicans who have led a nearly two-year investigation into a $500,000 State Department grant to an organization that promotes humanism and secularism are pressing the agency to conduct more diligent oversight after it admitted that the organization may have misused taxpayer funds.Rep. Mike McCaul, a Texas Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican who heads the panel’s human rights subcommittee, have accused the State Department of trying to promote atheism overseas under the guise of advancing religious pluralism, a longtime U.S. foreign policy priority. Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who...

Two people have been killed and more than 20 injured in a New Year’s Eve fireworks display tragedy in Hawaii. Police said they had responded to a “fireworks-related” incident in the Salt Lake area of Honolulu this evening and there were “multiple casualties”. The incident occurred on Keaka Drive, with officials telling locals to avoid the area. An unconfirmed video posted on social media appeared to show a fireworks display violently ‘exploding’ outside a private residence on the road.

On August 31, 2024, in the neighborhood of Waianae, about 30 miles west of Honolulu, Hiram Silva attacked a home with a large front loader, ramming cars into the house. The Silva had a rifle and a pistol. Silva then shot and killed three women in the carport and wounded another man and a woman. Silva had four 55-gallon fuel drums on the front-end loader and was reportedly shooting at the fuel drums.A resident of the home retrieved a pistol, rushed to the carport, and shot and killed Silva, stopping the deadly attack before it became an inferno of burning...

On May 14, 2024, Andrew Namiki Roberts, leader of the Hawaii Firearms Coalition, exercised his right to openly carry bladed weapons on a beach in Waikiki, Hawaii. Roberts carried a halberd, a highly visible medieval polearm. It did not evoke much response. With Robert and associates’ display of open carry, Hawaii joined those states where supporters of the Constitution openly and legally carry weapons to show the Second Amendment is not a dead letter in American law. Roberts could go about his protest legally because the legislature had restored the legal right to openly carry bladed weapons the day before,...

The Hawaii legislature has passed a bill that forbids adults aged 18-20 from purchasing or possessing ammunition. It also forbids anyone from transferring ammunition to people under the age of 21. Violation of the Bill would be punishable as a misdemeanor. On May 2, 2024, the Hawaii Legislature sent Bill SB2845 to Democratic Governor Josh Green for his signature. Governor Green (D). Governor Green has signed several state laws restricting firearms ownership and carry in Hawaii. Governor Green (D) is expected to sign SB2845 into law. Hawaii government is effectively defying the Supreme Court ruling in Bruen. From captol.hawaii.gov:SECTION 2.Chapter...

Lahaina Recovery Update for December 20230:00 Introduction0:37 Puamana2:16 Shark Pit3:00 Lahaina Shores3:38 Banyan Tree4:00 Lahaina Harbor4:25 Front Street6:26 Mala Wharf8:01 Wahikuli12:26 Front Street13:16 Baby Beach14:29 Opukea15:03 Lahainaluna16:10 Front Street17:36 Shark Pit19:53 Puamana

A coalition of leftist Attorney Generals for sixteen states and the District of Columbia has filed an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit appeal by the State of Hawaii, claiming state power to ban common arms is essential. On August 7, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit reached the unsurprising conclusion that knives, particularly the type of pocket knife called a “butterfly knife” or “balisong,” were bearable arms. Therefore, they were protected by the Second Amendment of the Constitution, and the State of Hawaii did not have the legal authority to ban them. On September 20, 2023, the...

On August 8, 2023, In the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii, Judge Leslie E. Kobayashi issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the case of Wolford v. Lopez.The case was filed on June 23, 2023, and has been written about previously on AmmoLand. The plaintiffs asked for a TRO for five of fifteen so-called “sensitive places” in the new Hawaii law. Judge Kobayashi issued the TRO for most of the places asked for by the plaintiffs, with some exceptions. Whether the other places which are labeled as “sensitive places” in the law will be upheld by...

In 1999, Hawaii enacted a categorical ban on possessing, carrying, and using butterfly knives or “balisongs.” The knives had been legal to possess before that time. In 2020, the ban on butterfly knives was challenged in court. The District Court upheld the ban. The ban was appealed to the Ninth Circuit. On August 7, 2023, the three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court, ruling the Hawaii ban was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court Bruen decision (June of 2022) was cited in the ruling. Of particular interest is the logic used by...

On July 25, 2022, Todd Yuktake and Justin Solomon filed a federal lawsuit against the Attorney General of Hawaii, Holly T. Shikada, for infringement of the right to keep and bear arms, specifically against the state of Hawaii’s ban on “billies” or “batons” outside the home. Billies were likely chosen, in part, because no procedure exists in Hawaii to allow the carry of short clubs outside the home. Over the course of the case, the AG changed from Shikada to Lopez. From the complaint: 6. The State of Hawai‘i generally bans the possession of “deadly or dangerous weapons” outside the...

On March 3, 2022, a lawsuit was filed against the City and County of Honolulu. The plaintiff, Michael Santucci, was a naval officer (an LTJG, or O2) with a top-secret clearance, working as a Cryptologic Warfare officer. In Hawaii, all firearms must be registered except for firearms made before 1899 or which are designed to use loose black powder.During the registration process, in early July of 2021, Santucci truthfully answered that he had seen a medical provider for feelings of depression and homesickness. Santucci was not diagnosed with any significant “behavioral, emotional, or mental disorder.” Because Santucci truthfully answered the...

* The hole may be leaking 'fault lubricant' that reduces stress on two plates * The fault could unleash a magnitude-9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest * READ MORE: Extra layer of plate tectonics could be causing tremors in Pacific ============================================================= Scientists fear a hole in a 600-mile-long fault line in the Pacific could trigger a catastrophic earthquake that would decimate cities along the northwestern US. The hole spewing hot liquid sits 50 miles off the shoreline of Oregon, on the boundary of the dipping fault known as Cascadia Subduction Zone, which spans from Northern California into Canada. This geological...

On August 19, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals summarily remanded the Young v. Hawaii case back to the District Court for a re-hearing after the Supreme Court granted cert, vacated the previous Ninth Circuit decision, and remanded the case back to the Ninth Circuit for a rehearing. In 2011, George Young applied twice to obtain a permit to carry a firearm for self-defense outside his home in Hawaii, either openly or concealed. Both his applications were denied by the Chief of Police, Harry Kubojiri, who cited Hawaii law.Young filed a lawsuit claiming his Constitutional right to keep and...

The Second Amendment Foundation is joining the arguments in court against the extraordinary process the state of Hawaii requires people to go through if they want to purchase a gun. The organization announced it has filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of consumers who, in Yakutake v. Hawaii, have challenged a couple of "cumbersome" state laws. "This is a case," explains the brief, "where a state-actor purports to comply with the Constitution’s text and Supreme Court case law, while intentionally undermining the fundamental right at issue. In fact, Hawaii is only engaged in a kind of malicious compliance." The foundation...

@TheTomGeorge NEW: Hawaii Rep. @TulsiGabbard introduces bill called ‘Protect Women’s Sports Act’ — would clarify Title IX protections to be based on biological sex, which would impact transgender athletes participating in athletic programs for women and girls.

@TulsiPressToday I introduced the Break Up Big Tech Act with @RepGosar to remove #Sec230 immunity for tech companies who act like publishers, censoring and manipulating users, treating us and our attention like products to make their billions.

Tensions flared at a Senate hearing on Antifa when a top Democrat walked out of the room declaring she couldn’t sit through Sen. Ted Cruz’s rhetorical speeches any longer. The dustup occurred when Cruz, R-Texas, blasted Democrats for not condemning Antifa more directly for the violence and destruction that has taken hold in certain U.S. cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. But Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Cruz just wasn’t listening during the more than three-hour hearing when Democrats said violence is not acceptable. “Sometimes I don’t think you listen,” Hirono told Cruz at the Senate...

Murders/Suicide at Pearl Harbor were by Active Duty Armed Guard On 4 December 2019,at about 2:30 p.m. in Hawaii, at the Pearl Harbor shipyard, an armed sailor guarding the nuclear attack submarine the Columbia, shot and killed two shipyard workers and wounded a third. The armed guard then killed himself with his government-issued M9 9mm Beretta pistol The guard used his government-issued M4 carbine (5.56 mm) to kill the two civilian workers and wound the third. From heavy.com: The Columbia is a Los Angeles-class submarine, meaning it is a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. At the time of the attack, the...

More than 100 House Democrats -- nearly half of the new majority -- have signed on to a new single-payer healthcare bill that supporters describe as "battle ready." If by "battle ready," they mean, "extremely controversial, deeply politically risky, and totally bereft of any acknowledgement of the proposal's eye-poppingly exorbitant costs," they're undoubtedly correct. Politico's story on the legislation is full of extraordinary tidbits and quotes. Here are some of the most important facts we've learned: (1) The bill "doesn’t include a price tag or specific proposals for financing the new system, which analysts estimate would cost tens of trillions...