HAWAII ARMING UP, DESPITE RESTRICTIONS

Police are issuing gun permits at a strong pace this year, with the number of people buying firearms on Oahu up significantly. The Honolulu Police Department said it approved 10,467 gun permit applications in 2004, up 4.8 percent from 2003, buts slightly behind 2002. Through August of this year, police said they issued 7,408 gun permits, with the stream of applications running ahead of last year. "We're on a record-setting pace," said Richard Brink of the firearms section in the Records Division of the Honolulu Police Department.

Some of the increase comes from the growing number of private security companies deploying armed guards. Earlier this year, the U.S. Navy outsourced the security of its Hawaii bases to a private company, whose guns boosted the number of permits issued on Oahu.

But police and gun dealers also describe a general concern about personal safety that swelled after the Sept. 11 attacks. More recently, Hurricane Katrina has prompted some people to consider buying guns to supplement their family's emergency preparedness kits. "We've seen about a 20 percent increase in sales since Katrina and had a lot of people inquiring about what it takes to get a gun," said Brian Takaba, a salesman at Magnum Firearms in Kakaako. "The gun business thrives on disasters. Every time something bad happens, gun sales go up."

Property crimes and widespread public attention to the epidemic of addiction to crystal methamphetamine -- "ice" -- have also attracted customers who have never before owned a gun. "Gun dealers are making a lot of money for sure," Brink said. "And those 10,000 guns we're registering a year come through four major dealers, who on average are charging between $500 and $600 for a firearm."

Len Carlson, a salesman for Young Guns in Mapunapuna, said the most popular weapons are shotguns and handguns. He said the most popular handguns cost more than $500. Gun buyers can pay between $500 and $600 for a Glock semiautomatic pistol, or can spend as much as $1,000 for a .45-caliber Kimber Custom, a version of which is used by the Los Angeles Police Department's SWAT team. "People are more sensitive to law enforcement not always being available and are buying guns," Carlson said.

Hawaii is considered one of the more restrictive states for firearms ownership. Licenses are issued by the police departments in each county. On Oahu, the permit costs $24. Applicants are fingerprinted and screened for such things as misdemeanor domestic abuse convictions, court-ordered mental competency tests and other disqualifying offenses. A 14-day wait period is required for buying a gun. Brink said not everyone who applies gets licenses to own a gun. Last year, Honolulu blocked 14 purchases, up from 10 the previous year. Through August, nine have been denied, he said. In addition, others have had their permits confiscated, mainly because a restraining order had been issued against them, or they committed a crime, which disqualifies them from owning a gun, Brink said.

Police are quick to point out that there is a big difference between a permit to own a gun and a license to carry one. Unlike many other states, getting a "carry permit" in Hawaii is extremely difficult and they are rarely issued to individuals. However, businesses whose employees are armed -- security firms and armored car services, for example -- can receive the permits. Last year, 195 of those permits were issued to businesses, up from 182 in 2003. And so far this year, 108 licenses to carry weapons have been issued to businesses.

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IRISH REPUBLICANS GIVE UP THEIR GUNS? MAYBE

The IRA has scrapped the weapons it used to wage war on British rule in Northern Ireland, monitors said on Monday, but the historic move appeared to do little to reconcile opponents in the bitterly divided province. An international monitoring group said it had seen put beyond use what it believed was the Irish Republican Army's entire arsenal, including rifles, explosives and machine guns. The move is unprecedented for an organization that has fought for a united Ireland since the island was divided more than 80 years ago.

The governments in London and Dublin hailed the event as a landmark, but it drew a skeptical reaction from the province's main pro-British party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). The DUP has been pressing for photographic evidence that IRA guns and explosives have been destroyed and a full inventory of the material put beyond use. The IRA, anxious to avoid anything that could be portrayed as surrender, has refused. "We do not know how many guns, the amount of ammunition and explosives were decommissioned, nor were we told how the decommissioning was carried out," DUP leader Ian Paisley said. Without DUP support, the restoration of a regional government in which pro-Irish Roman Catholics and pro-British Protestants share power, seen as key to lasting political stability in Northern Ireland, is impossible.

The IRA was believed to have one of Europe's largest illegal arsenals. Two months ago it pledged to get rid of its guns in a move aimed at unblocking years of political distrust between pro-British unionists and Irish nationalists. "We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal," disarmament watchdog, the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD), said in a statement on Monday.

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