Hawaii state Rep. Tom Brower, who has campaigned against the practice of the homeless taking shopping carts from businesses, decided to stop talking and start doing something about it.
Brower has begun smashing shopping carts he finds around his Waikiki district with a sledgehammer. If the carts are in good condition, he returns them to the store. However, if they are damaged in some way, they get a beatdown.
“I got tired of telling people I’m trying to pass laws. I want to do something practical that will really clean up the streets,” he told Hawaii News Now.
Obviously, some have issues with the practice. Marya Grambs, the executive director of Mental Health America of Hawaii, thinks Brower’s actions are wrong.
“His message to the public is that it’s okay to commit acts of violence against homeless people, against vulnerable people,” she said. “It’s okay for vigilante justice.”
Brower holds that’s not his message.
“I don’t want to be threatening to anybody,” he said. “I think it’s threatening to steal things and then walk around with them like it’s their own.”
Brower has been a Democratic state representative for the 23rd District of Hawaii since 2006.