In an island state covered in dense jungle and farmland, machetes are common tools used to clear thick vegetation and split coconuts.

And sometimes they are tools in dangerous crimes.

An 18-year-old had been hitting a family member with a machete in Waipahu last month when he was shot by Honolulu police, according to the department. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and has not been charged.

Gun violence in West Oahu has recently focused attention on firearms, but knives and other sharp instruments, such as machetes, are more often used to commit crimes in Hawaii, according to FBI Uniform Crime statistics. That contrasts with the U.S. as a whole, where guns are used more frequently in violent crimes, the statistics show.

Assaults with machetes can be frightening and attention-grabbing in a state where so many residents carry them in their cars or keep them in their garages.

The prevalence of this type of violence over gun violence is partly due to the state’s strict gun laws, which could lead some to reach for a knife or cutting tool as a more easily accessible weapon, said Chris Marvin of the National Control of weapons. advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety.

But while knife or machete attacks are worrisome, they typically aren’t as deadly as those committed with weapons, making gun control a higher priority for gun regulation advocates, he said.

“Overall, our violent crime rates are also lower than most places on the continent, so that shows how well our gun laws are working to keep the most violent and lethal means of wrong hands for the wrong reasons,” he said. .

Legal to own and carry

Hawaii police departments do not prosecute crimes specifically involving machetes, but they are legal to own and carry in Hawaii and are not considered weapons under the state’s deadly weapons statute.

The the law makes this a misdemeanor offense for unauthorized persons to conceal the carrying of other weapons, including daggers, daggers, metal daggers and blackjacks, which are weighted clubs.

Previously, guns were prohibited from being carried in public, but a measure signed into law by Gov. Josh Green in May allows them to be carried as long as it is carried openly. The measure also removed the state’s ban on butterfly knives, a type of folding knife often used in Filipino martial arts, and allows people to carry them openly.

Hawaii’s gun law was relaxed in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which expanded the rights of gun owners to carry their firearms in public. After the new law went into effect, support a 2nd amendment walked through Kapiolai Park carrying a battle axe.

Weapons included in Hawaii’s deadly weapons statute are primarily used to defend oneself or attack another person, while machetes are designed as agricultural tools, said Alan Beck, a San Diego attorney who represents clients in many cases of guns from Hawaii.

In a statement, the Honolulu District Attorney’s Office said a machete “may be considered a dangerous instrument if used in a manner likely to cause death or serious bodily injury.”

Machetes can appear in crimes because they are jointly owned, easily accessible and, like kitchen knives and other legal but potentially dangerous tools, are difficult to regulate, said Sen. Karl Rhoads, a member of the Senate Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military. Business Committee.

Although edged weapons may be used more frequently in violent crimes, the guns remain a priority for lawmakers because of their lethality, Rhoads said.

“Guns are more deadly, so those are the ones we have to work harder to keep out of the hands of people who will use them in illegal ways,” he said.

Knife murders

Over the past five years in Hawaii, 17 percent of violent crimes were committed with knives or cutting tools, compared to 7 percent with a gun, according to FBI Uniform Crime statistics. The human body — hands, fists or feet — is by far the most common weapon, used in 38 percent of murders, according to the FBI.

By comparison, in the US as a whole, handguns were used in 18% of violent crimes and knives or cutting tools in 12%.

In Mississippi, which has some of the laxest gun laws in the country, according to the Giffords Law Center, handguns are used in 21 percent of violent crimes, while knives and cutting tools appear in 8 percent.

However, guns are still the weapon of choice in Hawaii for certain crimes. In Honolulu last year, guns were used in 14 murders, while knives or cutting tools were used in six, according to the Honolulu Police Department’s annual report.

But machetes-wielding criminals still grab the headlines.

In July, he would have been a 21-year-old attacked two people and broke into cars with a machete in Kalihi, according to KITV. A young man of 19 years attacked an 18-year-old man with a machete at Ala Moana last June, according to KHON. And in Hilo last November, a 65-year-old man was charged hitting a woman in the head with a machete and hitting a man with a baseball bat, according to Hawaii News Now.

In April 2023, on Molokai, Maui County police shot and killed 39-year-old Nathaniel Naki, who was holding a machete under his armpit.

Bill Harrison, an attorney representing Naki’s family in a lawsuit against Maui County and the officers involved in the shooting, said Naki was not wielding the machete in a threatening manner when police opened fire.

“In this case, the (body camera) video is pretty clear that he never challenged him with the machete, it was under his arm,” Harrison said. “He may have taken a few steps towards them, but he never held the machete.”

Harrison said machetes are common on Molokai, which is largely rural, and Naki used the tool to clear paths in the forest or cut weeds in the yard.

The officers have not been criminally charged for shooting Naki, but Harrison said they are still reviewing the discovery in the civil case.

Maui police spokeswoman Alana Pico did not respond to a question about police policy on using deadly force against someone wielding a knife or machete.

Asked about Honolulu police policy, spokeswoman Michelle Yu directed a reporter to the department’s use-of-force policy, which restricts the use of force to times when it is “objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances as perceived by the officer at that moment. of the incident.”

“I’m Everywhere”

Takeshi Aoki, owner of Aframes Tokyo, a knife shop and sharpening business in Honolulu’s City Square mall, said he sells two or three machetes a week, ranging in size from 12 to 22 inches and priced from $29 to over 100 dollars. Customers mainly use them for yard work or clearing vegetation, he said.

They are also sold at many hardware stores, including Home Depot and Lowes.

Donald Wilkerson, a Big Island criminal defense attorney, said he bought his last machete on Amazon and uses it to cut through the jungle when he goes hunting.

“I have two of them,” he said.

Ken Sheffield, who owns a specialty craft knife shop called Aloha Blade, said their popularity probably stems from the plantation days of Hawaii, when they were used in the fields to cut fruit and sugar cane.

Many people still prefer to use machetes over a power tool like a chainsaw because they are powered by humans.

“I think it’s because of the availability and the immediacy,” he said. “It’s here, it’s in my hand in two seconds. I don’t have to plug it in and turn it on.”

Their ubiquity makes it more likely that they will end up being used occasionally by someone who wants to commit a crime or defend themselves.

“They’re cheap, they’re everywhere,” he said. “It’s just what’s at hand, really.”