We’ve all heard that line from hunting aficionados. We’ve certainly seen groups like American Hunters and Shooters Association claim that we can have “reasonable” gun laws, and it won’t threaten hunting. In the past few weeks we’ve seen examples in the State of California and the State of New Jersey, that show hunters have a lot to fear when their gun rights are infringed.
The State of New Jersey has been eroding gun rights and slowly strangling its shooting culture since 1968. There are still a lot of shooters over in The Garden State, but they have been in the political wilderness since the early 1990s.
The State of New Jersey, under Governor Corzine, has canceled the bear hunt for the past several years, despite serious problems in the Garden State with overpopulation of bears, and increasing bear/human encounters. Now the animal rights groups, such as the Humane Society of the United States, and PETA, want to get the legislature to put animal rights activists on the Fish and Game Council:
Under current law, the council is made up of 11 members appointed by the governor, with stipulations that three of the members must be farmers and six must be nominated by the New Jersey Federation of Sportsmen.
The legislation proposes to reduce the council to seven members, with two appointments reserved for farmers and no appointments reserved for sportsmen. The bill also alters language defining the council’s mission — deleting the goal of “development of fish and game for public recreation and food supply†and instead defining the mission as investigating the use of “non-lethal alternatives for dealing with wildlife conflicts†and exploring “ecotourism†opportunities.
Hunters need to let that sink in real good. Activists in New Jersey destroyed gun rights first. Now they are coming after hunting. Fortunately, hunters staged a successful rally, with about 500 sportsmen, to protest A3275 and S2041.
It’s important to note that the entire New Jersey Assembly is up for election next Tuesday. If you’re in the Garden State, make sure to vote the bozos who are supporting this crap out of office, and vote for the people who are behind sportsmen.
But New Jersey hunters aren’t alone in their struggle. Everyone knows that Arnold signed the lead ammo ban in California Condor habitat, which effectively ends hunting in large swaths of California. Now it turns out they are trying to push that in Arizona as well. I doubt they will find so hearty a reception to that idea in the Grand Canyon State as in California, but it’s important to note that they eroded gun rights in California before the foundation was set for going after hunters.
I’m hoping this presents a good case for the reason that hunters and shooters need to stick together. Our fates are inexorably intertwined. Let’s hang together… I think everyone is aware of the alternative at this point.
