State Voting Issues

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ARKANSAS: Vote Yes on Issue 1; Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish

Issue 1 is the NRA-supported ballot issue enshrining in the Arkansas Constitution the people’s long cherished right to hunt, fish and trap. This right is subject only to “regulations that promote sound wildlife conservation and management” prescribed by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission. The sanctity of private property rights and Amendment 35, establishing the Game and Fish Commission, is explicitly protected.

Issue 1 recognizes hunting, fishing and trapping as constitutional rights. Specifically, it prohibits regulations that would ban the use of “traditional methods” such as bow hunting or the sustainable taking of “wildlife” such as deer, bear and doves. Issue 1 protects the citizen’s hunting heritage from attacks initiated by well-funded anti-hunting activists who have assailed sportsmen throughout the country in recent years. In addition, it specifies that hunting, fishing and trapping shall be used as the preferred means of managing and controlling nonthreatened species. This ensures 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.

Anti-hunting organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have an annual budget of over $120 million. Their declared objective is to end all consumptive sporting practices. Through the initiative process, they have succeeded in enacting hunting bans in states considered to be sportsmen strongholds. For instance, three years ago in Michigan, a state with a million hunters, HSUS banned the hunting of doves, the most commonly hunted game bird in America. It’s only a matter of time before these anti-hunting activists, using the state’s initiative process, set their sights on the sportsmen of Arkansas. It is not prudent to wait until a crisis to pursue a constitutional amendment. By then, it will be too late.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nraila.org/righttohuntar/

Vote for Your Right to Hunt and Fish this November 2! Vote Yes on Issue 1!

HAWAII: JOIN THE HAWAII RIFLE ASSOCIATION FOR LUNCH WITH FORMER NRA PRESIDENT SANDY FROMAN! On Saturday, November 6, join the Hawaii Rifle Association for a lunch with former NRA President Sandy Froman! This will be the first time that an NRA President, past or present, will address the shooting community in Hawaii. Don’t miss this opportunity! Seating is limited so please sign up early. Attendance is by pre-paid reservation only. For more information, click here.

KANSAS: VOTE YES ON 1 NOVEMBER 2ND! A 1905 ruling from the Kansas Supreme Court interpreted Section 4 of the Kansas Constitution to mean that the Right to Keep and Bear Arms only exists as a collective right for those in the militia or military and no individual right exists. For that reason, the NRA has worked with the Kansas State Rifle Association, Senator Mike Petersen and the legislature, to pass a Constitutional Amendment during the 2009 legislative session, which provides new language that clarifies Section 4 and guarantees an individual Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The language reads: “A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, for lawful hunting and recreational use, and for any other lawful purpose.” Our elected officials have done law-abiding Kansans a tremendous service by passing this landmark Constitutional Amendment. Now it is up to YOU to do your part on November 2, 2010 and vote this provision into the Kansas Constitution.

Paid for by the National Rifle Association.

MONTANA: Dangerous Ballot Initiative, I-161, Threatens Wildlife Management and Montana’s Hunting Future!

Educate your fellow Montanans and vote No on I-161! I-161 is a ballot initiative popularly known as the Kephart Initiative. It proposes to eliminate all outfitter-sponsored licenses currently available in Montana. These outfitter-sponsored licenses would be reallocated to non-residents through the general draw system and significant price increases would be imposed on all general non-resident draw tags.

Initiatives pertaining to hunting laws, by their very nature, politicize the state’s wildlife management policies. This is contrary to the North American Model of Wildlife Management that has made Montana’s wildlife populations and rich ecosystems the envy of the world. Laws related to hunting and wildlife management strategies should be firmly rooted in science, not driven by a wealthy few who can produce the most emotionally-appealing 30-second television commercial during an initiative campaign. For this reason, NRA has always opposed “ballot box” wildlife management. A wide array of groups are standing up with the NRA to oppose this precedent-setting initiative, such as the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Safari Club International.

With regard to the specific provisions, Kephart’s I-161, through its significant fee increases, threatens to make the same monumental mistake made in Idaho last year. Non-resident license fees there were increased with expectations of proportional increases in revenue. The move backfired, resulting in a $1 million shortfall because fewer hunters purchased the more expensive licenses. With already poor budget conditions, a similar shortfall in Montana will jeopardize important wildlife management and conservation projects – ultimately detracting from hunting opportunities for all hunters in the state.

There have even been claims of fraudulent signature gathering and a Montana court is currently examining these claims. The state legislature and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks hold public hearings when determining laws and regulations. No similar forum is allowed with regard to initiatives and this is one of the primary things that make them so dangerous.

For this reason, it is up to NRA members to inform your friends, families, co-workers and fellow hunters about this dangerous ballot initiative and to reject it at the polls this November 2! Your voice and efforts today will make a tremendous difference. Make no mistake about it, the anti-hunting radicals are watching. If I-161 succeeds, they will learn from Kephart’s methods and try to circumvent the standard policy-making system and public processes that have stymied them through the years and use deceptive 30-second sound bites to advance their radical agenda.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nraila.org/votenoon161/

NEW JERSEY: Author John Lott to Keynote New Jersey State Association Banquet: Renowned author, economist, and Fox News Contributor John Lott is scheduled to be keynote speaker at the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs (ANJRPC) combined Annual Meeting Banquet and Friends of NRA Dinner & Auction on Saturday, October 23 starting at 6:00 p.m. ANJRPC is the official NRA State Affiliate in New Jersey (www.anjrpc.org).

NORTH DAKOTA: Vote NO on the North Dakota Anti-Hunting Ballot Initiative: Initiated Statutory Measure No. 2!

Don’t Allow Radical Animal “Rights” Interests to Infiltrate North Dakota!

North Dakota sportsmen should be aware that a group cleverly calling itself North Dakota Hunters for Fair Chase (NDHFC) has collected enough signatures to place an anti-hunting initiative on the 2010 General Election ballot. Make sure that you and your family and friends vote NO on November 2.

Initiatives pertaining to hunting laws, by their very nature, politicize the state’s wildlife management policies. This is contrary to the North American Model of Wildlife Management that has made North Dakota’s wildlife populations and rich ecosystems the envy of the world. Laws related to hunting and wildlife management strategies should be firmly rooted in science, not driven by a wealthy few who can produce the most emotionally-appealing 30-second television commercial during an initiative campaign. For this reason, NRA has always opposed “ballot box” wildlife management.

This initiative effort is supported by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), a Washington D.C.-based lobbying organization that spends $120 million a year in an effort to end all hunting and animal agriculture in the United States. Misinformed supporters of the initiative and NDHFC have claimed that HSUS has not been involved in the initiative or its predecessor in 2008, but one needs only to visit the HSUS website to find, “In North Dakota, HSUS members and supporters helped to gather signatures to place a measure on the ballot to halt the captive shooting of wildlife behind escape proof fences. Unfortunately the measure was not approved, but we will continue working to end the egregious practice of captive hunting.” Here are just a few quotes from Wayne Pacelle who serves as President of HSUS:

Interviewer: "About fishing ... do you avoid campaigning against it because there isn't a ground-swell movement in our culture to eliminate it?"
Pacelle: "That is correct. We're out to minimize suffering wherever it can be done, and wherever our limited resources can be utilized most effectively—abusive forms of hunting for now, all hunting eventually." Bloodties: Nature, Culture, and the Hunt
“If we could shut down all sport hunting in a moment, we would.” – (Associated Press)
“Our goal is to get sport hunting in the same category as **** fighting and dog fighting. Our opponents say hunting is a tradition. We say traditions can change.” – (Bozeman Daily Chronicle)
“We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States… We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California. Then we will take it state by state.” – (Full Cry)
The proposed initiative would ban private big game hunting preserves in North Dakota. This violates basic American principles of private property rights and sportsmen deciding for themselves how and where to hunt. Hunting ethics should be decided by each individual hunter, not by politically-motivated laws supported by radical animal “rights” interest groups. Further, the group behind this initiative falsely advertises preserves as very small pens or cages, when most preserves amount to thousands of acres.

This effort threatens to establish a precedent that will allow Wayne Pacelle and others to further pursue their ultimate agenda of banning all hunting. These anti-hunting radicals are learning how to circumvent the standard policy-making system that has stymied them through the years and will be emboldened to further utilize deceptive 30-second sound bites to advance their radical agenda. Please work to inform your family, friends and fellow sportsmen in North Dakota that they should vote No on Initiated Statutory Measure No. 2 this November 2.

SOUTH CAROLINA: On November 2, Vote for Your Right to Hunt and Fish in South Carolina

Amendment 1; Constitutional Right to Hunt, Fish and Harvest Wildlife

Amendment 1 is the result of the National Rifle Association's effort to partner with the state DNR and others to enshrine in the South Carolina Constitution the people's long cherished right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife. This right is subject only to "regulations that promote sound wildlife conservation and management" prescribed by the South Carolina General Assembly. NRA has spearheaded efforts to provide truly meaningful protections to sportsmen across the country. It is expected that nearly one-quarter of all states will have adopted similar amendments by year's end.

Amendment 1 recognizes hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife as constitutional rights. Specifically, it prohibits laws that would ban the sustainable taking of "wildlife" such as deer, bear and doves. Amendment 1 protects the citizen's hunting heritage from attacks initiated by well-funded anti-hunting activists who have assailed sportsmen throughout the country in recent years. In addition, it specifies that hunting, fishing and harvesting wildlife shall be used as a protected means of managing wildlife. This helps to 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.

Anti-hunting organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) have an annual budget of over $120 million. Their declared objective is to end all consumptive sporting practices. Through the initiative process, they have succeeded in enacting hunting bans in states considered to be sportsmen strongholds. For instance, three years ago in Michigan, a state with a million hunters, HSUS banned the hunting of doves, the most commonly hunted game bird in America. It’s only a matter of time before these anti-hunting activists, using the state’s initiative process, set their sights on the sportsmen of South Carolina. It is not prudent to wait until a crisis to pursue a constitutional amendment. By then, it will be too late.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nraila.org/righttohuntsc/

Vote YES on Amendment 1 this November 2!

TENNESSEE: Vote "YES" On Proposed Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment!

The proposed Right to Hunt and Fish constitutional Amendment, on the November 2 Ballot, will amend the Tennessee State Constitution to forever recognize Tennessee's sporting heritage and the great contributions that hunters and fishermen make to conservation and wildlife. The National Rifle Association has spearheaded efforts to provide truly meaningful protections to sportsmen across the country. These meaningful protections embedded in the proposed Amendment are the result of the NRA's effort to enshrine in the Tennessee Constitution the people's long cherished right to hunt and fish. It is expected that nearly one-quarter of all states will have adopted similar amendments by year's end. Tennessee’s Right to Hunt and Fish provides permanent safeguards against attacks from the radical animal "rights" extremists whose ultimate goal is to end all hunting in America.

Hunting and fishing has a rich heritage that is woven into the very fabric of the Volunteer State. The proposed Amendment will allow your kids, grandkids, and future generations to have the opportunity to experience the outdoors in the spirit of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. The flourishing wildlife populations and sound conservation in Tennessee are the result of what hunters and fishermen do.

PETA opposes the Right to Hunt and Fish in Tennessee, which should be reason enough to vote Yes on November 2. They have been quoted as saying that the proposed amendment is a “solution in search of a problem” and that no one is trying to ban hunting or fishing. Soon after these statements, PETA sent a letter to UT-Chattanooga asking that the University ban its fishing team because fishing is a “blood sport.” The fact is that PETA and extremists like them are the problem and this Amendment is the solution. Making hunting and fishing a permanent part of Tennessee’s Constitution will help to fend off attacks from anti-hunting extremists who continually attempt to advance their emotional and political agenda.

For more information, please visit: http://www.nraila.org/righttohunttn/

Vote "Yes" on the Right to Hunt and Fish amendment and tell the anti-hunting radicals that the Volunteer State is off-limits to their anti-freedom agenda!

WISCONSIN: Wisconsin Court Finds State Carry Ban Unconstitutional -- Time for Voters to Act! In a ruling that is likely to renew the debate over Wisconsin's laws on carrying firearms, a county trial court has found that a state statute's total ban on carrying concealed weapons violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ruling, issued Oct. 12 by Judge Jon M. Counsell of the Clark County Circuit Court, dismissed an indictment against Joshua Schultz, who had been arrested for carrying a knife in his waistband, covered by his shirt.

Source: The National Rifle Association