Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Virginia: State Senate to Vote on Sunday Hunting Legislation this Wednesday!

This Wednesday, January 25, the state Senate is expected to consider Senate Bill 464, legislation that would remove the prohibition on Sunday hunting in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This legislation passed in the state Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee by an 11 to 4 vote last week. Senate Bill 464, sponsored by state Senator Ralph Northram (D-6), was amended in committee by the sponsor to repeal the ban on Sunday hunting on private property and public waters, and to prohibit the hunting of deer with dogs on Sundays.

Currently, Virginia is one of only six states in the country that strictly bans hunting on Sundays. This prohibition harms Virginia’s economy and threatens the very future of our hunting heritage by discouraging hunter recruitment and retention. It is time that the decision on this hunting policy, like virtually all others, be delegated to the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries.

At a time when the economy is struggling and too many Virginians are out of work, legislators must not continue to refuse the enormous economic benefits associated with allowing hunting on Sundays. Comprehensive research from the National Shooting Sports Foundation shows that allowing hunting on Sundays would generate a total annual economic impact estimated at $296 million and create 3,927 jobs. All of this would be spurred by simply eliminating words from state statute books (the current prohibition), not spending taxpayer dollars on some pie-in-the-sky scheme.

Update!

The state Senate has advanced legislation that would allow Virginians to hunt on private property on Sundays, setting up a Thursday vote on final passage of the bill.

The Senate voted 25-14 to advance the bill (Senate Bill 464), thwarting an amendment that would have left it to localities to decide whether to allow Sunday hunting in their jurisdictions. The Senate did amend the bill to prohibit hunting within 250 yards of a place of worship on Sundays.

Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/sunday- ... nia-senate