Constitutional amendment to protect hunting and fishing on ballot today

Resolution 30 would make outdoor sports a constitutional right

In addition to electing a U.S. Senator for the next six years, Mississippians can today to make hunting and fishing a right in perpetuity for future generations in the Magnolia State.

Concurrent Resolution No. 30 is on the statewide ballot. It reads:

“This proposed constitutional amendment establishes hunting, fishing and the harvesting of wildlife, including by the use of traditional methods, as a constitutional right subject only to such regulations and restrictions that promote wildlife conservation and management as the Legislature may prescribe by general law.”

Passed in 2012 by the Mississippi House and Senate, the resolution is just making to the ballot. It was withheld in 2012 since the 2012 statewide ballot already had heavy constitutional and polarizing proposals — the abortion-related “personhood” amendment, which failed, and new eminent domain restrictions, which passed.

It is a move about 25 years in the making. First talk of protecting the right of Mississippians to fish began in the 1990s, kick-started by successful efforts in other states to curtail certain hunting seasons. Organizations like the National Rifle Association have fueled a national move forward to gain constitutional protection.

If the measure passes by simple majority today, as expected, Mississippi would become the 18th state to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right. Vermont has protected that right since 1777, but the other 16 have mostly passed legislation since 1996, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

California and Rhode Island have only protected the right to fish, but not hunting.

“We’re hoping to send a message to the rest of the country that we are passionate about our hunting and fishing. We don’t want anybody dabbling with our sportsmen’s way of life,” Rep. Lester “Bubba” Carpenter, R-Burnsville, lead sponsor of the resolution, told the Associated Press this spring.

Other sponsors suggested that the bill not only protected a person’s right to hunt and fish but also protected a valuable asset to the Mississippi economy. A recent survey by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service shows consumptive wildlife related outdoor sports to have a $2.1 billion impact in the state.

According to the legislators and wildlife officials, the proposal won’t change the Mississippi Wildlife Commission’s ability to regulate hunting and fishing or the Legislature’s ability pass hunting and fishing laws. The measure also won’t affect laws regarding trespass, property rights, maintenance of levees or regulation of commercial activities, and hunting and fishing license requirements.