HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s tourist hotspot of Waikiki is known for bikinis, shopping and surfboards. But resident Andrew Roberts has recently introduced a different item on evening walks through his neighborhood: a long-poled battle-axe.
Roberts, director of the nonprofit Hawaii Firearms Coalition, has been taking the 15th-century-style European halberd on strolls since May. That’s when Hawaii loosened its weapons laws in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
The so-called Bruen decision upended gun laws nationwide, but especially in Hawaii, which long had some of the country’s toughest restrictions — and some of the lowest rates of gun violence.
A subsequent federal appeals court ruling applied Bruen to the state’s ban on butterfly knives and found it unconstitutional. While that case and others related to Hawaii’s weapons laws continue to be litigated, lawmakers responded this year by passing a measure that generally allows deadly or dangerous weapons to be openly carried in public. Previously, anyone found armed with them was subject to immediate arrest.