The pages of Bearing Arms are no stranger to Hawaii. We’ve all covered extensively the number of issues with civil liberties coming from the Aloha State. Embroiled in battles over stun guns and tasers, permitting abuses, and of course the still pending Young case dealing with open carry, Hawaii is one of the states I list off when I go through my list of bad actors. Something that is news, but shouldn’t be, is that it was recently announced that the Honolulu Chief of Police has finally signed the first permit in the jurisdiction.

From the Honolulu Police Department Facebook page:

Today, Chief Joe Logan signed the first license to carry a concealed firearm in Honolulu County. The Honolulu Police Department will continue to review applications and process them accordingly. #HonoluluPD #CCHNL

In a perfect world there’d be nothing newsworthy about this because the first carry permits would have been issued long ago, but we should celebrate a little for our island brethren over there getting some semblance of liberation. One commenter said concerning the post, who I happen to recognize and know, did point out “The Bruen decision was in JUNE for Gods sake. What took you morons so long to comply with the law?” That’s a rather fair assessment of the situation.

The Hawaii Firearms Coalition, a group that has and continues to advocate for the restoration of rights surrounding firearms in Hawaii, put out their own statement:

This is a historic day when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is finally acknowledged in Honolulu.  Chief Logan has signed the first CCW permit, the first permit issued in modern history for Honolulu.  We are pleased to see Honolulu following Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii counties in issuing permits.

We have come a long way in the 2A movement in Hawaii and the Nation.  It has been a long road for this day to arrive.  Thanks to the people who helped make this happen with court cases DC v Heller, McDonald v Chicago, NYSRPA v Bruen, Young v Hawaii, Livingston v Ballard, the 2A organizations, and the people who continued to fight to reclaim our rights.

The fight continues.  Gun control advocates are attempting to pass sensitive places carry bans and restrictive CCW legislation await in the counties and the State legislature.  Challenges in the courts will continue to combat these restrictions in GOA v Hochul on New York’s CCW restrictions along with upcoming lawsuits in Hawaii.

Please apply for your CCW permit and encourage others to do so.  Talk to your family, friends, and coworkers about CCW rights and the need to prevent rising violent crime.  More importantly, send your State legislators a message about your support for CCW and to oppose 2A violations.

This Coalition is right in pointing out the long road they and the rest of us have traveled to get to this point. They’re just as much correct in asserting that the fight will continue. I reached out to Andrew Namiki Roberts, a Board Member and Director of the Coalition for comment. Roberts is hopeful but indeed wary, as we can all understand.

We’re glad to see movement toward licenses being issued, but we won’t count our chickens until we see them hatch. The fact that a press release and photo op was done before a single license was actually issued should tell you something.

This fight may be finally coming to a close, but with the legislative session a couple of weeks away, a new one is about to begin.

Roberts, those of us in the other holdout pinko states understand your sentiments. We’ll celebrate with you on this victory, and continue to fight alongside you in your future battles. “Aloha,” to a little splash of liberty Honolulu. We’re remaining hopeful that 2023 will restore more of the Second Amendment to the island state. If the rest of the holdout states can act as a litmus test for what you’re going to be dealing with, brace for impact Hawaii.