Don't worry, not planning to move, just curious. I just got back from a week on the big island---thank God we were there and not at the other islands that have gotten the constant rain/flooding, so we actually had a couple nice days.
Anyways, I always like to hit a gun store or 2 when out of town, just to see whats going on (prices, attitudes, whats popular, etc.)--the phone book only had a few, with no good directions and limited time so I didn't get to any. Did run into the Kona K-mart and Wallyworld---K-mart sold a few boxes of rifle ammo and Wallyworld sold NO shooting related items---that put me in a bit of shock.
Just curious as to what its like to be an avid hunter/shooter on the islands--any input?

Its tough.

Quoted: Its tough.

Well, I guess an in depth statement like that answers the "attitude" part of what I was looking for in reference to hitting gun stores

Quoted: Quoted: Its tough. Well, I guess an in depth statement like that answers the "attitude" part of what I was looking for in reference to hitting gun stores

I hate going to gun stores, but here you really dont have a choice like you do with the mainland.  I relied on ammoman and cheaperthandirt in Texas for my ammo, but now I have to pay retail or more which really sucks.  If ammo grew on trees I wouldnt have any problems at all.

A lot of it depends on what island you are on.  I live on Oahu near Honolulu so I have several gun shops here that I can drop in on.  Hawaii's geography hurts this hobby.  Shipping anything here (from ammo to toilet paper) is more than what it costs in the mainland and the high cost of living combine with marginal wages make it kind of hard to save money, for me.  Many companies wont even ship things to Hawaii for several reasons, shipping costs being one.  The other reason is we have a AWB ban that restricts high cap pistol mags.  Many catalogs like Sportsmans Guide dont bother to ship any mags here at all over 10 rds.  I sent them a letter with Hawaii's gun laws taken from the States website and they still refused to send me M1A rifle mags.

Having it worse is our friends on the neighbor islands.  At least on Oahu, we have Honolulu which is a major city.  Since we are a collection of islands, its not like we can hop in a car and drive to the next county or state.  That would involve a plane ticket, lodging and more money.  Shopping online helps me get what I need and want for my shooting hobby but there are some things that I cannot get.  Awhile back our politicians were on a rampage to get rid of all the bedroom FFL dealers we had.  I think they made it that the FFL dealer has to have a commercial location before they allow FFLs in Honolulu.

Oh yah one more thing.  Our gun laws suck.

Hunting in the State of Hawaii can be a difficult pursuit. My hunting party got stuck on the island of Lanai for 36 hours due to the recent bad weather/fog. We were supposed to fly back to Oahu on Sunday morning, we could not get a flight out until late Monday night. Flights to and from the airport on Lanai can be delayed by fog. It is just a half hour's flight from Lanai to Oahu via twin engine prop commutor aircraft.