Virginia is for Sunday Hunting Lovers, FSU Speech, & More
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good afternoon,
For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
If you’re just discovering my musings, here’s a backgrounder.
Pardon the weekend update. Dispatches typically go out on Fridays. Due to my travel plans being upended last week, I was unable to craft a succinct update on Friday. Regular posting schedule will resume next week. Thanks for understanding!
Here’s what I have for you today.
Virginia is for Sunday Hunting Lovers
The last blue law prohibiting Sunday hunting on Virginia’s public lands is no more.
Last week, the House of Delegate overwhelmingly voted 69-28 in support of Senator Chap Petersen’s (D-Fairfax) Senate Bill 8. Before that, it passed the Senate by a 29-11 vote.
Here’s some context behind the bill’s significance and history of this longstanding ban via Virginia Mercury’s Sarah Vogelsong:
The earliest versions of Virginia’s ban on Sunday hunting can be traced back to 1643. Over the years, the law became increasingly unpopular as other states scrapped their Sunday hunting prohibitions; today, only a handful of East Coast states continue to restrict the activity.
Nevertheless, Virginia’s restrictions hung on intact until 2014, when the General Assembly agreed to allow Sunday hunting on private lands.
Many hunters remained unsatisfied with that compromise, arguing that the continued ban on Sunday hunting on public lands disadvantages less wealthy hunters who lack access to private grounds and that the prohibition is a relic of days when lawmakers sought to protect the Christian Sabbath through wide-ranging “blue laws.”
What does Senate Bill 8 do?
It prohibits a “hunt or kill on Sunday (i) any wild bird or wild animal, including any nuisance species, with a gun, firearm, or other weapon, within 200 yards of a place of worship or any accessory structure thereof or
to hunt or kill(ii) any deer or bear with a gun, firearm, or other weapon with the aid or assistance of dogs”It opens up existing public hunting lands, approximately two plus million acres, to Sunday hunting opportunities. Outdoor Life reports “1.6 million acres of national forest lands and 70,000 acres of state forests.”
I’m told Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) wants to sign SB 8 into law. The latest: early-to-mid April. If no revisions or veto, it goes into effect on July 1st, 2022.
To learn more about this historic moment, catch my podcast interview with Virginia sportsmen Cyrus Baird and John Culclasure to get the skinny.
FSU Speech Livestream Available for Viewing
On Thursday, I presented before Florida State University’s Turning Point USA chapter on my lecture “Conservation is Conservative.”
Despite Spring Break looming, attendance hovered around 15 or so students. A decent showing in-person and hundreds tuning in online. Not bad!
Thank you to Trenton and his group for being the consummate hosts. Lots of great questions were asked too.
Below are pictures from last Thursday’s event.
My speaking tour will pause for two weeks then start up again on March 24th at Michigan Technical UnIversity in Houghton, MI. I’ll deliver a similar talk on campus then and get to tour this mining town. I can’t wait!
If you weren’t able to catch my remarks at FSU, watch them on YouTube:
Podcast Episodes You May Have Missed
Catch up on the latest District of Conservation episodes below.
Thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts and encourage your friends to subscribe to the newsletter too.
—Gabriella