Owning guns is a constitutionally protected right, just like freedom of speech or freedom of religion. It’s clearly enumerated, and recent decisions by the Supreme Court have made it clear that the right is an individual right, not a collective one. We, as free individuals, have a right to own guns.

However, simply exercising that right in Hawaii will now land gun owners into an FBI criminal database:

Hawaii’s governor signed a bill making it the first state to place its residents who own firearms in a federal criminal record database and monitor them for possible wrongdoing anywhere in the country, his office said. The move by gun control proponents in the liberal state represents an effort to institute some limits on firearms in the face of a bitter national debate over guns that this week saw Democratic lawmakers stage a sit-in at the U.S. House of Representatives. Hawaii Governor David Ige, a Democrat, on Thursday signed into law a bill to have police in the state enroll people into an FBI criminal monitoring service after they register their firearms as already required, his office said in a statement.

And gun control advocates wonder why we’re so against firearm registration?

A spokesperson for the NRA called this “one of the most extreme bills we’ve seen.” That’s the plain and simple truth.

Can you imagine how the Left would react if protestors were put into a database for exercising their right to protest?

Or journalists, for exercising freedom of the press? They’d be up in arms, and they’d be right to be upset.

Further, Hawaii is incentivizing people to arm themselves outside of the law. Why bother registering your firearms if you’re going to be treated like a criminal for doing so?

Proponents of the new law will claim that if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide. Which is funny, because most of them lashed out at that line of reasoning when the Patriot Act was passed — and for good reason.

Of course, despite the decisions by the Supreme Court and the clear language of the Second Amendment, owning guns isn’t a real right to these folks. It’s just something we rednecks clinging to guns and religion think is important, but the more civilized know better.

Hopefully, Hawaii’s law will be challenged and overturned soon. No one should be put in an FBI database simply because they engage in a lawful activity.