Initially everyone breathed a sigh of relief that nobody was shot — this time — after the alleged April 9 threat with a “ghost gun” near Ko Olina. Now that the defendant, Seth Zachary Owens, is under federal detention, it’s rational to have another reaction: concern about the easy access to these firearms.

Laws restricting these unlicensed guns, passed in Hawaii and elsewhere, are undergoing legal challenge. Meanwhile unconscionable episodes, such as this one in Ko Olina, put lives at risk.