Sorry Chris, didn't mean to offend or start a political argument. If its any help, the 8 years of congressional and executive branch decisions I was referring to were exceedingly bi-partisan in nature, if I had meant to attack one political party for the actions I would out of fairness have had to attack the opposition as well. I didn't try to touch on partisan politics there, though I appreciate your impression that I did and I will abide and not go there again in this forum.

One thing I like about modern legislation, is the accessibility of legislators and staff on topics of legislation. Even just a few years ago, you couldn't reasonably get a hold of a legislator on the topic of their bill - too busy, too unconnected, there were actually staffs set up to buffer them from contact. If you got a response, it was typically typed, canned, and may be intended to obfuscate the goals of the politician / legislator. Today, anyone can contact their representative on a bill such as this one to outlaw folding knives and ask the question, why do you want this bill to pass? What do you hope to accomplish? I would recommend to anyone in Hawaii who has an interest in this bill to contact Senator Ihara and ask him who or what motivates his bill: its one thing to come at them with automatic opposition to the legislation, and in this case probably derservedly so, but its another to engage in dialog withhim and find out why he would introduce what is surely an unpopular measure.