Numerous bills that would allow some form of Sunday hunting have been proposed in this session. One of them has now passed the Senate:
The state Senate voted Wednesday to advance legislation that would allow Sunday hunting on private property, setting up a probable vote today on final passage of the bill.
The Senate voted 25-14 to advance the bill (SB 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.
Virginia is one of only 11 states that prohibit or restrict hunting on Sundays. Lawmakers have resisted efforts to roll back the ban in previous sessions, but supporters of Sunday hunting have mounted a well-coordinated effort to lift it in the 2012 General Assembly session. Gov. Bob McDonnell has said he would sign legislation allowing Sunday hunting on private property.
The bill was amended to ban hunting within 250 yards of a church. Okay.
Looking over the vote tally, though, shows that the bulk of the opposition came from Republicans. And it’s very interesting to see tea party favorite Tom Garrett’s name among the “nays.”
How many of these same Republicans who voted to deny even private property owners the right to hunt on their own land on Sundays will end up voting for the property rights amendment? Most, if not all, I suspect. How they rationalize denying such rights on the one hand while protecting them on the other ought to prove highly amusing.
