Contact Your State Representative Today

On Thursday, the state House Constitution Committee approved House Concurrent Resolution 30, the NRA-backed Right to Hunt and Fish constitutional amendment by state Representatives Bubba Carpenter (R-1) and Charles Busby (R-111).  The language of this proposed amendment reads as follows:

"The people have the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife, including by the use of traditional methods, subject to laws and regulations that promote wildlife conservation and management and which preserve the future of hunting and fishing.  Public hunting and fishing shall be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.  This section may not be construed to modify any provision of law relating to trespass, property rights or the maintenance of levees pursuant to Article 11."

HC 30 would keep the existing fishing and hunting structure in place while protecting future generations of sportsmen from attacks initiated by well-funded anti-hunting extremists who have assailed sportsmen throughout the country in recent years.  Specifically, it would prohibit regulations that would ban the use of “traditional methods” such as bow hunting or the sustainable taking of wildlife such as deer, elk and doves.  In addition, it specifies that hunting, fishing and harvesting of wildlife shall be used as a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife. This constitutional amendment would ensure that sportsmen will continue to be used as the state’s responsible game managers instead of the taxpayer-funded sharpshooters and unproven expensive wildlife contraception schemes employed in other jurisdictions.

Fourteen states, including the neighboring states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, have adopted constitutional amendments protecting the right to hunt and fish. If passed by the Mississippi Legislature, HC 30 would appear before voters on the November 2012 ballot.  And since the Kentucky General Assembly passed similar language last year, voters there already will be voting to ratify their state Right to Hunt and Fish constitutional amendment in the 2012 general election.

Thursday, March 15 is the deadline for House action on HC 30.  Please contact your state Representative today and urge him or her to vote for HC 30 in this session so that sportsmen can vote for this important measure on the ballot this November!  Contact information for state House members can be found here.