Hawaii’s Gun-Free School Laws Under Fire After Armed Father Stops Oregon Shooter
An armed father’s intervention in Oregon has renewed questions about Hawaii’s school firearm restrictions, as national polling shows growing support for allowing teachers to carry.
The October 15 school shooting in Bend, Oregon, has reignited criticism of gun-free school policies more than 2,500 miles away in Hawaii, where a newspaper editor is questioning why state lawmakers continue restricting lawful firearms in schools while relying on emergency-response training to protect children.
In an October 17 column for Aloha State Daily, Editor-in-Chief A. Kam Napier challenged Hawaii’s school safety policies following the murders of three children and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School.
As AmmoLand previously reported, an armed father who heard gunfire entered the school and fatally shot the attacker before responding police officers could stop him.
The school had prohibited staff from carrying firearms. That prohibition did nothing to prevent the attacker from entering with a shotgun. Instead, it took an armed private citizen willing to confront the killer to bring the attack to an end.
For Napier, the shooting exposed a fundamental problem with how Hawaii approaches school security.
“This is reality. Under these laws, our children are no safer than the ones at Silver Rail. As far as I’m concerned, those children are human sacrifices to the moral vanity of the gun control advocates who left them undefended.” – A. Kam Napier, Editor-in-Chief, Aloha State Daily
Hawaii’s Gun-Free School Laws Under Fire
In June 2023, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed Senate Bill 1230 into law as Act 52, establishing extensive restrictions on carrying firearms in designated sensitive places.
The law prohibits ordinary licensed carry at public and private schools, charter schools, preschools, child care facilities, and college campuses, including adjacent parking areas, subject to specified exceptions.
Green defended the restrictions as a balance between public safety and Second Amendment rights.
Hawaii lawmakers also passed Act 53, originating as HB 1329, requiring active-shooter training programs in public and charter schools, with students permitted to decline participation.
Napier questions what those policies accomplish when an armed attacker disregards the law and begins murdering defenseless children.
In his column, he points to the commonly taught “run, hide, fight” approach and cites school safety specialist Michael Dorn’s 2021 analysis, which identified school attacks where certain emergency-response training methods contributed to increased casualties.
Hawaii’s statute does not specifically require that training method. Nevertheless, Napier’s broader criticism is that teaching unarmed children and teachers how to react to an attack is not a substitute for having someone capable of stopping it.
National Poll Shows Parents Support Armed Teachers
Napier’s criticism comes as new polling indicates substantial support for allowing teachers to carry firearms on school grounds.
A national survey conducted by McLaughlin & Associates and published by the Crime Prevention Research Center found that 51.4% of general-election voters support allowing armed teachers, compared with 35.7% opposed. Among voters with children attending K–12 schools, support increased to 57.3%, with just 30.2% opposed.
The findings are particularly relevant because parents are the ones entrusting schools with their children’s safety every day.
Gun Owners of America has long supported allowing willing, trained teachers to carry concealed firearms, arguing that armed personnel already inside a school can confront an attacker without waiting for police to arrive.
That is precisely what happened in Oregon, except the armed defender was a parent who entered the building after hearing gunfire.
Why Are Money and Politicians Worth Armed Protection?
Napier also highlights a contradiction in how society approaches armed security.
Armored vehicles transporting money routinely employ armed guards. Government officials receive armed protection. Yet when discussing the safety of schoolchildren, the presence of lawfully carried firearms suddenly becomes unacceptable.
Napier’s argument is straightforward: If firearms are an accepted means of protecting money and government officials, why should schools be denied the same defensive capability?
Napier proposes providing willing school employees with firearms and the training necessary to use them safely, with public funding covering the expense.
Such a policy would give trained staff an immediate defensive option rather than leaving the entire responsibility for armed intervention to police officers responding from somewhere else.
Gun-Free Signs Cannot Stop an Armed Killer
The Oregon shooting demonstrated the difference between prohibiting firearms and stopping someone determined to commit murder.
Four innocent people were killed before an armed father intervened. The attacker ignored the school’s firearm restrictions, while the armed citizen used his gun to stop further violence.
Now, with a majority of surveyed voters—and an even larger share of school parents—supporting armed teachers, Hawaii’s approach to school security deserves renewed examination.
The Second Amendment protects the right of ordinary Americans to keep and bear arms. That right does not become less important when innocent lives are threatened.
Napier’s proposal asks Hawaii lawmakers to reconsider whether disarming responsible adults is an acceptable foundation for school security. The events in Oregon demonstrate why the ability to meet deadly force with immediate armed resistance cannot simply be dismissed.
Gun-free school policies did not stop the killer at Silver Rail Elementary. An armed citizen did.
About Duncan Johnson:
Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms enthusiast and unwavering defender of the Second Amendment—where “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. A graduate of George Mason University, he enjoys competing in local USPSA and multi-gun competitions whenever he’s not covering the latest in gun rights and firearm policy. Duncan is a regular contributor and editor-in-chief for AmmoLand News and is responsible for AmmoLand’s daily gun-rights reporting and industry coverage.