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Bills to end Sunday hunting bans in three states will apparently not be presented to state lawmakers for a vote this year, meaning there are still 11 states in which citizens cannot hunt on private property on Sundays because of arcane and archaic “blue laws.”
Proposals to lift Sunday hunting bans in Virginia and Pennsylvania have failed to make it out of committee this year. A limited bid to allow Sunday bow hunting in Connecticut is not expected to be ready for presentation before the legislative session ends.
In addition to Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, the other states that ban or severely restrict hunting on Sunday are Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia.
While there are many local groups, such as Pennsylvania’s Hunters United for Sunday Hunting (HUSH), battling to end this bizarre Sunday suspension of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, there is now a broad partnership coalescing to spearhead the fight: The Sunday Hunting Coalition.
Created in January 2012, coalition members include the National Shooting Sports Foundation, National Rifle Association, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Archery Trade Association, Boone and Crockett Club, Cabela’s, Delta Waterfowl, Mule Deer Foundation, National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses, Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Safari Club International, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and the Wildlife Management Institute.
According to the NSSF, removing Sunday hunting bans in these 11 states would create more than 27,000 new jobs, generate more than $730 million in wages, and contribute about $2.2 billion in additional economic activity.
For more, go to:
— Coalition Formed to Fight Sunday Hunting Bans
— Bill Cochran’s Outdoors: Key players react to defeat of Sunday hunting in Virginia
— The Sunday Hunting Coalition
— Hunters United for Sunday Hunting
— State Sunday Hunting Ban Statutes
— Sunday hunting bills pulled in Va. House before vote
— Malloy administration targets Sunday hunting