"More states make right to hunt bulletproof" by Grant Schulte Associated Press / September 23, 2011
That's odd because the printed article appeared in my October 9, 2011 Boston Sunday Globe.
LINCOLN, Neb.— The idea of enshrining hunting and fishing rights in state constitutions is sweeping the country even though supporters and hunters themselves acknowledge that no one is trying to in pry rifles from their hands.
"I haven't seen anyone on a local level holding up signs in front of the public area saying we're a bunch of evil-doers," said Jason Brion, a Lincoln, Neb., hunter who nonetheless supports more protection for the sport.
But those behind the push insist the threat is real and that sportsmen need protection as the population becomes more urban and fewer hunters and anglers take to the forests, fields and streams.
"It's obvious there's less of a threat in Nebraska than, say, Massachusetts or Connecticut," said Wes Sheets, chairman of the Nebraska Sportsmen's Foundation, which backed the Nebraska effort. "But there is a threat. There is a concern. You don't win wars in one fell swoop. You win them incrementally, changing the rules over time. One day you wake up, and everything's different."
The issue may be the rarest of all legislative phenomena -- a measure related to firearms use that isn't hotly disputed....
"If we have a constitutional right to hunt and fish, why not a right to shop and golf?" asked Ashley Byrne, a spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. She called it a "solution in search of a problem."
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Some skeptics suspect the issue is more about stoking conservative politics than about hunting. Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club's Grand Canyon Chapter in Arizona, said such ballot initiatives are designed to create fear among hunters and drive voters to the polls.
"What's broken here?" Bahr said. "This is an organizing tool. The biggest threat to hunting is that people will stop doing it -- not that it will be banned."
Douglas Shinkel, a policy specialist who tracks the issue for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said that flagging interest in hunting is a cause of concern....
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