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Hunting banned on Sunday? In Virginia it is.
On Tuesday the Virginia House of Delegates voted 71-27 to pass a bill (HB 1237) that will lift a longstanding ban that prevented people from hunting on Sundays.
The bill’s sponsor, Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), hopes that lifting the ban will not only allow residents to finally be able to hunt on Sundays, but also draw more people to hunting, reduce populations of nuisance deer, and promote tourism.
The subject is a touchy one, with some people like Delegate Tommy Wright (R-Victoria) adamantly opposing any attempt to allow Sunday hunting. He told the The Virginian-Pilot, “Sunday is the Lord’s day.”
But others in the area say that allowing only one day on the weekend for hunting is unfair, and limits the amount of time hard working people can actually get out there to hunt. They also point out that Virginia has no problem allowing other Sunday sporting events like NASCAR and football.
“Imagine if we were to ban NASCAR on Sunday,” Delagate L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-Prince William) told The Washington Post. “Imagine if we were to say, ‘Whoops, no golf!’ And imagine if we said, ‘No football on Sunday afternoon. I think the tectonic plates would shift!
HB 1237 now heads to the Virginia Senate. If it is passed and signed by the governor, the Sunday hunting ban could be eliminated as early as July 1. Virginia’s version of the ban has been enforced since 1930.
