The Pittsburgh Post has a story on the political career of David Levdansky. He’s the kind of hunter gun owners love to hate. You know, the type that doesn’t think gun rights are that important? But even his support of hunting I think was tepid:
During his first term Levdansky worked to get a hunting license fee increase and modernize long-neglected fines and penalties in the state Game and Wildlife Code.
“Since both agencies are practically entirely funded by license fee revenue, I wanted to bring them under the normal state budget process,” he said.
The Game Commission and other critics argued that would permit urban legislators to strip money from wildlife management.
That would be a dream bill for HSUS and the enemies of hunting. There’s very good reasons that Game Commissions tend to be independent bodies from the legislature. The critics were exactly right.
A defining juncture in Levdansky’s career came in 1985 and 1986 when he tried to craft an amendment he said would help the Game Commission to catch hunters who illegally kill a second buck. The law would have banned the possession of rifles in the field after tagging an antlered deer.
“I was approached by the National Rifle Association field rep,” said Levdansky. “He said, ‘You’re trying to do gun control.’ I said, ‘What? I’m a hunter.’ He said, ‘You’re a closet liberal and you’re trying to do gun control.’ I said, ‘Through the Game and Wildlife Code? Come on.’ “
Apparently he doesn’t like a spade being called a spade. I never could figure out myself if Levdansky was just a closet leftist trying to clothe himself in camo in order to fool us, or was just genuinely ignorant. Either way, I hope he enjoys retirement. It’s a good thing for us for him to be out of the legislature.
“The law would have banned the possession of rifles in the field after tagging an antlered deer.”
I guess that would mean all hunters would have to hike back to their vehicles to secure their rifles and just leave their trophies in the field until they could hike back to claim them. It’s a good thing that never became a law. All sorts of other problems from unintended consequences (or perhaps intended?) could have been the results of a law like that.