Over at the Desert Rat, a message I think more hunters need to hear. Here in Pennsylvania, we have the pigeon hunting bill coming up once again. I am sincerely hoping this bill can be stopped from coming up on the floor, especially in the House. Hunters should be concerned, because an HSUS victory on this issue will mean they will come back to Pennsylvania, and will use a victory on the pigeon hunting ban to help raise money throughout the Commonwealth. Even if you don’t like pigeon shooting, a victory here will strengthen HSUS, and comparatively weaken hunters politically.
We also have a few representatives in my district, one a freshman, who are otherwise pretty good friends to the issue, but who are probably going to have to part ways with NRA on this one vote. I was hoping to see them protected from having to make a choice between the sensibilities of their districts and their NRA grades. This is thanks to the efforts of Philadelphia Gun Club, who fanned the flames on this issue a few months ago, and brought the issue back into the forefront. Thanks guys! Why bother with a strategy when we can just create a disaster in the media, right? I was hoping for the pigeon shoot bill to stay on the back burner, but not now.
In this part of Mo. guns are for hunting, shooting sports and self-defense. It’s a big issue here, gun banning for any reason is poking the hornets nest. When I hear of hunters from other areas not supporting gun rights it amazes me (Old Fart’s from previous post comments section not included, I still say he lives close to a big city). But your right we need to work on the urban hunters who don’t get it. And here in Mo. it’s going to be the NRA that unifies us, not a bunch small associations.
This is ridiculous. Pigeon shooting is not a hunting, it’s a slap in the face to hunters. Don’t put this on the backs of hunters, ok? In fact, the day hunting is banned comes faster because of the existance because of stupid events like pigeon shoots. These things leave a false impression of what hunters do, and turn the public against us.
Pigeon shoots are not about fair chase, not about gathering food, not about wildlife management, not even about having a nice trophy for the wall. Pigeon shoots are just some ridiculous joke that gives us all a black eye.
What did the Philadelphia Gun Club do that was wrong?
They made it considerably more likely that a ban on pigeon shooting was going to pass by creating controversy over the issue in an area where the most support for the ban was going to come from. Morally speaking, I may not find pigeon shooting objectionable, but many do. When an issue starts looking hot, it’s generally not a very wise idea to throw gasoline on it and see what happens. That’s what Philadelphia Gun Club did.