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quote:
From the Hawaii Rifle Association site(http://www.hawaiirifleassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42&Itemid=47) :
USE OF DEADLY FORCE IN HAWAII
Deadly force is justifiable only in self-defense or in defense of other innocents where one reasonably believes death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy may otherwise result. Use of deadly force for protection of private property can result in criminal charges. Using deadly force is not justifiable if it can be safely avoided by retreating or adopting other defensive strategies, except it is not required in Hawaii, unlike New Jersey, that you retreat from your home. You cannot justify the use of deadly force defensively if you initiated its use. Police officers are instructed to make an arrest in ANY homicide. The prosecutor then decides whether to bring charges.
LIMITED CIVIL LIABILITY, Act 97
The 2010 HI State Legislature passed a limited civil immunity (Castle Doctrine) bill for home occupants who use force against a home intruder. If the intruder is convicted of specified violent felonies associated with home invasion, the home occupants may not be sued. If the intruder is only committing theft, you are not protected. In Hawaii you may not hurt someone for stealing your stuff.
The law is far from perfect but not as bad a many think.
Here is a worthwhile link to a pdf file about Hawaii firearm laws:
http://www.hawaiirifleassociation.org/im...ws2010.pdf
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Posts: 4,533
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Joined: Jan 2006
I think my mother's advice to me about my brothers antics, when I was young and they teased me mercilessly, is the most appropriate here:
If you dont like it, dont pay attention. If you stop paying attention, they'll stop, or move on to something else. If you fight it out with them, it just adds fuel to the fire and they know they are getting your goat.
-Cat
Who is addicted to the Mexican Word of the day on FB.
Posts: 2,653
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If someone breaks into an occupied home, it isn't difficult to enunciate why you, the resident, felt your life was in danger. I don't think it appropriate or wise to spell it out on an internet forum. Simply placing yourself at the mercy of a home invader seems insane.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Posts: 3,035
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Joined: Aug 2006
Hawaii has some of the most restrictive laws in the country on what is acceptable use of force during a robbery or home invasion. Anyone who is moving here would do well to research the case law on this before moving here, because Hawaii's laws are at the opposite end of the spectrum from those of states like Texas or Oregon (others too I'm sure but these two I know) which allow deadly use of force to protect one's home or family from a threat, with a very liberal definition of what is a threat.
In a nut shell, in Hawaii you can only use equal or lesser force against an intruder: gun if the intruder has a gun, baseball bat against baseball bat, machete vs machete, etc. If you shoot an intruder you better be able to prove you were protecting more than just stuff, and that the intruder had a gun too.
As far as "locals" being treated by a different set of rules than the rest of us, it is pretty common knowledge amongst people who have lived here very long at all. I was in denial on this one until the double standard was applied to my household. Every local family on our street lets their unregistered dogs run loose, everyone else has their dogs registered and behind fences. One of our dogs was out for less than 5 minutes when an albizia branch fell on our fence, a local neighbor called animal control even though they and the local family next to them with an aggressive shepherd, all let their unregistered dogs run loose 24/7. The message from the humane society guy was clear, they can let their dogs run loose and we better keep ours inside our fences, period.
Does the double standard piss me off? Yes. Is it enough to make me leave Hawaii? No. The historical roots behind this double standard are complicated, but it is a double standard that exists and is probably not going away anytime soon. It is part of the equation when weighing the quality of life here which should be taken into account when deciding if Hawaii is the place for you.
As far as the issue of ethnic humor goes I have been staying out of this argument because people got so ugly with each other right off the bat. I found Tom's "joke" to be tasteless and saw it as an attempt to get people riled up in predictable ways, which it did. I think there is a huge difference between Frank De Lima or Jerry Seinfeld's humor and a "joke" shared with a child about shooting people based on their ethnicity. If Lack had included his "can", American, in the list it might have been less offensive, the same way Woody Allen can make fun of aspects of the American Jewish culture that would be antisemitic if I told the same joke. Ethnic humor is touchy, the only people who can usually safely tell jokes about an ethnic group are members of that group. When jokes include rape, shooting or killing, child molestation (remember all those Michael Jackson jokes?) or the Holocaust they cease to be a "joke" for me.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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soneone busts down my door in the middle of the night...
They're getting shot period.
Id rathar go to court than the hospital.
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
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" Using deadly force is not justifiable if it can be safely avoided by retreating or adopting other defensive strategies, except it is not required in Hawaii, unlike New Jersey, that you retreat from your home."
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Posts: 212
Threads: 19
Joined: Aug 2010
"Using deadly force is not justifiable if it can be safely avoided" PERIOD. You might talk and even think like John Wayne, until you take a life...it's not glamorous at all and you might spend the rest of your life in regret.
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quote:
Originally posted by silverpenny10
"Using deadly force is not justifiable if it can be safely avoided" PERIOD. You might talk and even think like John Wayne, until you take a life...it's not glamorous at all and you might spend the rest of your life in regret.
so true so true. even when in time of combat it is so true. the memories and nightmares remain vivid and they just dont seem to go away. peace to all and HAPPY NEW YEAR
as far as the joke and comments that started this thread ..... oh well best to keep my comments to myself and get ready for some football
ALOHA
http://myhawaiipardise.blogspot.com/
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Oh did I forget to say "Just Kidding"
That's the last resort
Call me whatever you like... troll, John Wayne
I couldn't care less.
Actually ,I kinda like the John Wayne comment.
Seriousness aside...Get a sense of Humor People.
One Thing I can always be sure of is that things will never go as expected.
