I’m glad to see NRA backing away from a proposal to open up a firearms season in bow hunting counties in West Virginia. The crossbow issue seems to antagonize bow hunters in Pennsylvania enough as it is. Let’s not get people pissed at NRA next door too. Also, can we not insult the bow hunters as we’re trying to calm their fears?
When the NRA sent out its postcard poll, Austin said, the West Virginia Bowhunters Association “flipped and thought we were going to try to run a bill.â€
“That just shows they have no knowledge of the process and how it works,†he said.
“We were just in it to see if there was an interest. And there is no interest. We have no desire (to seek changes). We’re a membership-driven organization.
Emphasis mine. Even if it’s true, you don’t say it to the media. I sincerely hope that was a misquote on the part of the paper. It’s important to tread carefully on issues like this. They have the potential to divide our community at a very critical time for us politically.
Leaving aside the particulars of this situation (low deer population), would you not consider gun hunters to be a higher priority to the NRA then bow hunters?
I would say yes, except that I think there’s significant overlap between the two communities. NRA has an interest in protecting the hunting culture as a whole, and I think they need to be wary of issues that divide that culture, and set one faction against the other.
I think the bow hunters are wrong on the crossbow issue, but I question whether it’s an important enough issue to risk pissing them off. I think NRA needs to be careful with what it does here.
Sebastian:
Bingo. And from the stickers I see on cars and trucks here (UBP is #1, not counting Penn State or Steelers stickers, and NRA ties with military stickers at #2), there are a lot of vehicles with both UBP and NRA stickers, which makes the NRA sticking its nose into the crossbow issue even stupider.
I don’t have a dog in this fight. I don’t really care whether crossbows are allowed or not. But a whole bunch of NRA members do, and are on the opposite side of the issue. The NRA should back off, and stick to firearms issues.
Just curious how advocating for firearms hunting in 3 or 4 counties in WVA is not a firearms issue as Rightwingprof seems to imply.
It should have been obvious I was referring to the crossbow issue here. I assume WV is like everyplace else, and many of those bowhuters are also rifle and shotgun hunters (and vice versa), and how many of them are behind this, however. And if there are lots of them behind it, why do they need the NRA to step in?
I’m tired of hearing bowhunters whine. Hunting has to be protected and their self serving attitude does nothing to promote hunting. They are no different than gun owners that say an assault rifle ban is ok because they are not banning duck guns.