Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
by: James Stoker
My recent response to one particular email criticizing FOAC-ILLEA for standing for the hunter's right to choose:
"Mr. **********,
Our purpose isn’t to replace training and conservation with “lunatics” or the oft feared and yet never performed “spray and pray” mentality. Every single state in the nation except Pennsylvania and Delaware have these centerfire semi-automatic rifles in the woods every hunting season, and I would argue there is no less skill being applied in New York’s woods than you see in ours. In fact, many states have shown accidents have gone down since legalizing centerfire semi-automatics.
There are several reasons why a hunter may choose to hunt with a semi-automatic centerfire rifle. My own history for example, was as a military serviceman who could only afford one good rifle at the time. By purchasing a semi-automatic centerfire rifle, I was able to both hunt deer where I was stationed, and have an adequate defense weapon for my home, which was in a pretty rough section of the town I was stationed near. That rifle cost me $600 at the time, and represented nearly a months’ pay.
Another reason is recoil. Many shooters whether healthy, aging, or dealing with disabilities, hunt safer and more frequently with mitigated recoil. It’s not about a lever-action or bolt-action for them. It’s about what they can comfortably shoot that keeps them continuing their traditions and going out there year after year.
For some it’s the lightweight weapons, easy to carry designs, customizable options, ergonomic platforms… and let’s face it, there are plenty of shooters out there that could be almost as fast and no less dangerous with a lever-action rifle as they could with any semi-auto platform. You choose a bow, someone else chooses a crossbow. You choose a bolt-action, and I may choose a lever-action. It requires no less skill for the shooter, with any of them, including the semi-auto centerfire rifle. The first shot is what matters in all hunting. The quality of a good shot, as you say, is no less important with a semi-auto than with a bow.
Your referring to people who prefer semi-automatic weapons for their efforts as “lunatics” shows a complete lack of understanding of the issue. Some of the most skilled shooters in the world use semi-automatic platforms to hone their skills on the national level. It is not up to you, me, or the government what style of rifle a man or woman chooses to hunt big game with. Or to defend their families with. This is a matter of standing tall for the 2nd Amendment and a man or woman’s right to make that decision for themselves. THIS is the message we are trying to get out to the sportsmen’s clubs across the Commonwealth. It is no different than if the Pennsylvania Game Commission walked into your club and told you and your sons that you will no longer be permitted to use a bow to hunt, as too many hunters are missing their marks and too many wounded animals are being left to suffer. I’d gladly come to your club and explain to everyone what we are fighting for and why. We’re not trying to take the skills away. In fact, we are trying to open it up to MORE Pennsylvanians who may grow more interested in learning the proper way now that their tool is accepted for the task.
All our organization does is fight for your rights. Castle Doctrine? That was us. License to Carry when they wanted to ban all carry? That was us. Stopping the so called “assault weapons” bans, strengthening preemption, Constitutional Carry… those were us. We are here to stand for YOUR rights as a citizen of this Commonwealth and stop the efforts in Harrisburg to strip your rights away. We can easily argue that part of the agenda preventing the acceptance of semi-auto centerfire rifles for hunting is the anti-2nd Amendment groups in Pennsylvania believe the 2nd Amendment is about hunting, and as long as you can not use these platforms for hunting, they have the right to ban them.
No sir. It is not the place of government to determine our rights for us. No more than it is yours or mine to determine for the person next to us. We are fighting for each one of our rights to choose. We welcome you to join us in that fight. "