Sportsmen rip New Jersey lawsuit
November 30, 2003
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
At first look, the doomsday scenario that many conservationists have long foreseen seems to be taking shape in New Jersey, where anti-hunting activists just filed a lawsuit seeking the suspension of all licensed hunting, fishing and trapping.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance alerted outdoors writers about the situation Monday evening, just hours after the suit was filed in a Jersey state court.
Give the plaintiffs credit for imagination, if nothing else.
Instead of citing the usual grounds of alleged cruelty to animals, the papers presented to Superior Court Judge Susan Reisner accuse the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife of issuing sporting licenses to convicted felons.
The anti's lawyers want the state to suspend sporting licenses, even those already tucked in wallets or pinned to fishing vests, until all applicants can be subjected to criminal background checks.
Bud Pidgeon, president of the pro-hunting Sportsmen's Alliance, called the suit "the most outrageous and blatant attack on sportsmen's rights that we have seen in our 25-year history."
The legal action is rooted in a New Jersey law that prohibits convicted felons from possessing or purchasing weapons.
Of course, many felons possess and buy weapons illegally - whether they hunt or not - and would no doubt continue to do so by hook or by crook, regardless of any requirement for a sporting-license background check.
You're probably wondering why angling and trapping license-buyers should have to undergo such checks, since most reasonable people do not classify fishing rods or foot-hold traps as "weapons."
I suspect the judge will also be scratching her head by the time she wades through her newest stack of legal briefs.
Ultimately, the most serious threat to the future of the so-called blood sports comes not from nuisance suits filed by animal-rights activists, but from hunters, anglers and trappers who are either too unethical to abide by fish and game laws or too apathetic to defend their pastimes to neighbors, fellow citizens and government officials.
November 30, 2003
J. MICHAEL KELLY
OUTDOORS WRITER
At first look, the doomsday scenario that many conservationists have long foreseen seems to be taking shape in New Jersey, where anti-hunting activists just filed a lawsuit seeking the suspension of all licensed hunting, fishing and trapping.
The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance alerted outdoors writers about the situation Monday evening, just hours after the suit was filed in a Jersey state court.
Give the plaintiffs credit for imagination, if nothing else.
Instead of citing the usual grounds of alleged cruelty to animals, the papers presented to Superior Court Judge Susan Reisner accuse the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife of issuing sporting licenses to convicted felons.
The anti's lawyers want the state to suspend sporting licenses, even those already tucked in wallets or pinned to fishing vests, until all applicants can be subjected to criminal background checks.
Bud Pidgeon, president of the pro-hunting Sportsmen's Alliance, called the suit "the most outrageous and blatant attack on sportsmen's rights that we have seen in our 25-year history."
The legal action is rooted in a New Jersey law that prohibits convicted felons from possessing or purchasing weapons.
Of course, many felons possess and buy weapons illegally - whether they hunt or not - and would no doubt continue to do so by hook or by crook, regardless of any requirement for a sporting-license background check.
You're probably wondering why angling and trapping license-buyers should have to undergo such checks, since most reasonable people do not classify fishing rods or foot-hold traps as "weapons."
I suspect the judge will also be scratching her head by the time she wades through her newest stack of legal briefs.
Ultimately, the most serious threat to the future of the so-called blood sports comes not from nuisance suits filed by animal-rights activists, but from hunters, anglers and trappers who are either too unethical to abide by fish and game laws or too apathetic to defend their pastimes to neighbors, fellow citizens and government officials.
