For at least two hundred years it’s been against the law to hunt on Sundays in the state of Pennsylvania, but that could soon be changing after the state House passed a bill repealing the prohibition on Wednesday.
The primary sponsor of the bill, Democrat Rep. Mandy Steele, blasted the prohibition as an “archaic ‘blue law’ not based in the reality of today’, pointing out that by banning hunting for half the weekend, many families who are juggling busy schedules are unable to take their kids to the fields or tree stands.
This isn’t the first time a bill repealing the ban has been introduced in Pennsylvania, but in past sessions the legislation met with opposition from groups like the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. This year the Farm Bureau is on board with the measure, though it still met some resistance… including dozens of Republican House members.
House Bill 1431 passed by a 131-72 vote, with 69 Republicans and three Democrats opposed. Steele’s bill would allow the state Game Commission to permit hunting on Sundays of its choosing. It also would require the governor to appoint at least one representative of agricultural interests to the nine-member Game Commission and strengthen trespassing penalties to deter unauthorized hunting on private property.
Rep. David Maloney, R-Bucks, is a vocal opponent of the bill. He criticized the provision requiring an agricultural representative be appointed to the Game Commission, arguing sportsmen are not adequately represented by the commission.
The Game Commission has voiced support for repealing the ban. Spokesperson Travis Lau told PennLive that hunters provide a “valuable service” by managing wildlife populations and “funding wildlife conservation for all species.”
Lau said reversing the ban “would benefit all of us in keeping hunters engaged and performing the service that they do.”
Game Commission executive director Steve Smith celebrated the bill’s passage.
“While no one can add hours to the day or days to the week, removing the prohibition on Sunday hunting holds the potential to add significantly more time to the hunting calendar and keep hunters hunting,” he said.
I confess that any time I see gun or hunting-related legislation pass with more support from Democrats than Republicans I get suspicious, so I did a bit of googling see if I could learn anything more about why Maloney and other Republicans aren’t on board. Earlier this month the Capital-Star newspaper did a pretty lengthy piece on HB 1431 that extensively quoted Maloney and his concerns.
He discussed his issues with the language about trespassing penalties, the requirement for a member of the agriculture community to be on the Game Commission Board, questioned the effectiveness of the law combatting crop damage and protecting forests, and free time.
“I don’t really buy into this idea that another weekend day is going to clear up all the woes of the sportsmen and the Game Commission,” Maloney said.
He added that he has never taken a position about whether or not he’d hunt on Sunday, but asked for a no-vote, believing the legislation “complicates the issue.”
I can understand some of Maloney’s hesitation, particularly when it comes to making changes to the makeup of the Game Commission. Who’s to say the farmer appointed to the board is going to be supportive of hunting in general? According to the Commission’s website, commissioners are “appointed from various geographical districts of the state to ensure uniform representation for all residents”, so requiring one of them to represent the interest of farmers (which won’t always align with the interest of hunters and anglers) would be a big departure from previous practices.
And Maloney is right that allowing hunting on Sundays won’t alleviate all of the issues with access. It certainly won’t hurt, though, and I’m sure it would be a big help to some families.
Maloney isn’t the only one speaking out against the measure.
Brook Lender, executive director of the Keystone Trails Association, opposes the bill, arguing that repealing the ban removes the only day of the week hikers can enjoy the outdoors “without having to worry about any safety risks from hunting activity or the startling noise that can accompany it.”
“I just think we should be allowed to enjoy Penn’s woods without risk of being hit by a bullet or hearing gunfire,” he told PennLive.
He also voiced concern that the repeal could deter hikers and cyclists from using trails on Sundays.
“Trail based recreations are generally expanding in popularity, and hunting is declining,” he said. “Are we going to cater to a pastime that is declining in use, or try to be more accommodating of the future of recreation?”
Is there any evidence that cyclists and hikers are staying inside on Saturdays because they’re worried about hunting? I highly doubt it. As for Lender’s snide commentary about a “pastime that is declining”, one of the reasons for ending the ban on Sunday hunting is to increase the number of hunters in the Keystone State. Hunting is a valuable part of game management, and they do far more than hikers and bikers in keeping the wildlife population in check and balanced.
For most of the 12 years that I’ve spent living in rural Virginia hunting has been banned on Sundays. Our legislature allowed for hunting on private property on Sundays a couple of years ago, and honestly, I haven’t really noticed a difference. There are already neighbors and nearby residents who are shooting recreationally throughout the weekend, but if there a few more gunshots on Sundays than in years past it’s not enough to register with me, much less be a problem.
HB 1431 sounds like it has some issues, but it also sounds like it’s at least a step in the right direction. The Senate has a bill of its own repealing the Sunday hunting ban that’s authored by a Republican and is sitting in the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee. If nothing else, maybe the language of that bill will prove to be more palatable to Mahoney and others on the right and can be amended into the House bill before HB 1431 hits the Senate floor.
Read the full article here
