Editorials
Tuesday, April 27, 1999

Fireworks legislation
going up in smoke

The issue: Fireworks have become a threat to the safety and health of Hawaii residents.
Our view: Pending state legislation fails to solve the problem.

STATE legislators appear to be approaching what they describe as a compromise on the issue of the fireworks problem -- between a toothless Senate bill and an irresponsibly permissive House proposal. The goal should be prevention of intolerable levels of misery and fire hazards, but neither chamber of the Legislature seems serious about imposing needed restrictions.

The Senate bill would create a statewide ban (effective Jan. 2, 2000) on the sale, possession and use of fireworks, except for bona fide religious and cultural purposes and public displays. However, the bill would allow any county to nullify the ban within its shorelines and resume regulating the sale and use of fireworks as if no problem existed. Enforcement would be left up to the counties in the unlikely event there would be anything left to enforce.

The decision by any county to abrogate a fireworks ban would have statewide implications. Different rules for each county could result in a wholesale interisland movement of fireworks, creating a danger for airline passengers.

The House version is even worse. It would allow the counties to issue permits for common fireworks with 1,800 firecrackers or more, and would forbid any county from banning fireworks. It would make it a misdemeanor to possess, buy, sell, transfer, set off, ignite or discharge aerial fireworks without a license, except for religious and cultural celebrations. That would be a slight improvement from current law, which only bans setting them off, a restriction that is difficult to enforce.

Legislators say they are reluctant to buck cultural and traditional practices, but the insane levels of smoke and noise of New Year's Eve activities in recent years have overwhelmed any other considerations. An outright ban is needed to stop the madness, but legislators obviously lack the resolve to approve anything approaching a worthwhile measure.

Gun laws needed
for school safety

The issue: Access of guns by juveniles has made schools vulnerable to attack.
Our view: Laws are needed to prevent children from gaining access to firearms.

THE ability of the two young suspects in the attack on the Littleton, Colo., high school to transport a huge arsenal of weapons and bombs onto the Columbine campus is astonishing. Their ability to assemble such an arsenal is not. While society is confounded about how to deal with sociological factors resulting in school violence, a tightening of gun laws is obviously needed.

The Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 made it illegal to bring firearms to school, but the lack of prosecution is shameful. Of 6,000 incidents of guns being carried onto school campuses in the past two years, only 13 cases have been prosecuted.

Even the National Rifle Association concedes that laws to prevent juveniles who commit violent crimes from ever owning a gun are needed, but that is far from enough. While a 1968 federal law forbids anyone under 18 from possessing a handgun, firearms are easily accessible to juveniles.

As part of his omnibus crime package, President Clinton is proposing new gun-control measures that include extending the Brady Law, requiring background checks of gun buyers, cracking down on gun shows and closing loopholes that let juveniles own assault rifles. Bills now pending in Congress include a trigger-lock bill supported by the administration.

More important, perhaps, is the long-standing proposal by the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence. It requires gun owners to store their firearms so they are inaccessible to children. Sixteen states already have such laws, but Hawaii is not among them. Neither are the six states where school mass murders occurred recently -- Mississippi, Arkansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and, now, Colorado.

Such a requirement not only would make it difficult for violent children to execute attacks on campus but probably would reduce shootings by children outside the school.

School shootings account for less than 1 percent of the more than 5,000 firearms-related deaths of children under 19 in the United States each year. A recent study found that accidental deaths of children dropped an average of 23 percent in states with laws preventing minors from gaining access to guns.

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., last year tried to attach federal child-prevention access language to a Justice appropriations bill, but the Senate rejected the provision on a vote of 69-31, along with three other gun-control measures.

"A lot of the issues that kids get into fights over are the same as they were 25 years ago," says Curt Lavarello, executive director of the National Association of School Resources. "What's changed drastically is the availability and accessibility of weapons and firearms, and the desire to turn to weapons to end a dispute."

Much needs to be done to detect aberrant behavior exhibited by troubled youngsters and respond before it explodes into violence. Meanwhile, lawmakers should focus on concrete steps to keep firearms out of the hands of juveniles.

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Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor