Sometimes a “Right” is Dead Wrong

It’s one thing to try to right a wrong—that’s always commendable—but trying to enact laws to call a wrong a “right” is a whole nuther school of fish. Some professed rights will always be wrong, no matter how long they’ve been considered a cultural tradition. As I pointed out in my last post, some traditions should be terminated once and for all.

Take hunting and trapping, for instance. Certain states, like Alabama, Wyoming and Kentucky have initiatives on their ballots to make hunting a recognized cultural “right,” while some voters in Idaho, Nebraska, WY and KY want to include the barbarity of trapping to the list of perceived privileges. They call it “harvesting.”

According to an article entitled, “Ky. amendment protects hunting: If approved, language would close case on issue”:  The National Rifle Association backs the amendment, as it has with the 12 states that have passed similar legislation since 1996. Prior to 1996, only Vermont had in its constitution a “Right to Hunt” law, which the state passed in 1777, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The wording of the amendment would put into the constitution language to prevent the prohibition of hunting.The NRA argues it will prevent certain measures backed in other states by the Humane Society and other organizations, including the recent ban in California on hunting bears and bobcats with dogs.

Kentucky’s constitutional amendment would prevent any ban of hunting using traditional methods, said Darren LaSorte, manager of hunting policy with the NRA. Dogs in California are a traditional means of hunting bear, he said.

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If your state is one of those hoping to enshrine the senseless murder on non-humans for sport, now’s your chance to cast a vote for the animals!

Text and Wildlife Photography ©Jim Robertson

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