ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

Car:  A passenger vehicle propelled by an engine meant for traveling on streets or roads.  It is reusable typically up to the expiration date of its warranty.  It weighs tons and travels at speeds from a slow crawl to shrieking insanity.  The car’s direction depends on human action, inaction, reaction, decision, folly and a host of other factors.

Gun:  A device used for fighting frequently in warfare consisting of a metal tube from which a projectile is discharged by the force of an explosive.  The direction of the projectile also depends on human input. Too often the direction selected by the human with the gun is towards another human who may or may not have a gun.  The person with the gun may also intentionally or unintentionally point and fire the gun at them self.

In the recent highly publicized trials of Christopher Deedy, the evidence revealed the intentional killing of a person by a law enforcement officer armed with a handgun who was apparently impaired by alcohol.  Deedy, a federal agent here for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, shot and killed a local man in a Waikiki McDonald’s in what he says was self defense. He has been tried twice and in August was found not guilty of murder but prosecutors plan to try him a third time on a lesser charge.

A number of years ago, in a case that still pains me, , Clyde Arakawa, killed a young woman, Dana Ambrose, in a drunken driving incident. A few hours before her death, Dana was excited and exceptionally joyful when she learned she had been accepted to UH. Arakawa was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

It occurs to me that a person who is driving a car and even if they haven’t injured anyone even slightly is still guilty of an offense — driving under the influence of alcohol.

But it’s quite a different story for people who lawfully have a loaded gun on their person and, like Christopher Deedy, are under the influence of alcohol.

In Hawaii, we crack down on people who drive a motor vehicle while under the influence because a driver consuming alcohol can create an endless array of human death, injury, loss and tragedy.

Yet I am not aware of any law in Hawaii that prohibits a person from drinking and having a loaded gun on their person.  I can’t think of any reason why a person who has any alcohol in their blood should have a loaded gun in their hand.  This would include Chris Deedy, all armed law enforcement officers, someone watching a football game in their living room or someone passed out inside their home with a loaded gun on their lap.

Put bluntly you have a loaded gun in your hand you have zero alcohol in your blood.  To accomplish this result in Hawaii would require legislation.

My thought is that the proposed laws and sanctions should be modeled after Hawaii’s driving while intoxicated laws.

Such legislation would have significant implications in reducing family and domestic violence, accidents and other consequences of the irresponsible combination of guns and alcohol. Equally important is that the legislation be implemented in such a way to get help to people who need it.

And a postscript to last week’s column asking whether the Honolulu Star-Advertiser should be endorsing political candidates. Here’s a passage from a recent essay in the Columbia Journalism Review that I came across this week:

“The newspaper endorsement: It’s a hardy trademark of election season, a platform for editorial boards to dispense their wisdom, even a source of Ìý´Ú´Ç°ùÌý.

“But the traditional endorsement is increasingly being tinkered with — or dropped altogether. Dozens of newspapers have stopped making endorsements over the last two election cycles, often citing doubts about their impact and fears that, in a polarized era, endorsements put the credibility of the paper’s political coverage at risk.”

Enough said.