EVEN THOUGH Massachusetts is densely populated, hunters and non-hunters share the state's wild areas with relatively little friction. Shooting accidents are rare, conflicts between hunters and land owners are manageable, and homeowners are often grateful for the shooting of deer that eat their shrubbery, leap in front of their cars, and sometimes carry Lyme disease. Hunters and non-hunters alike make use of the open land preserved both by hunters' license fees and by taxpayer-financed acquisitions.
This peaceful coexistence could be at risk if the Legislature reverses a centuries-old law banning hunting on Sundays.
Massachusetts is one of seven states to ban hunting on Sundays, while four other states put some limits on it. The ban, one of the state's Blue Laws, likely had its roots in the early colonists' desire to limit activities on the Sabbath. Now it serves the useful purpose of providing time even during the height of the season for hunting deer with shotguns, Nov. 26 to Dec. 8 this year in most of the state. Hikers, bird-watchers, mountain bikers, and others know they can be in the woods without concern about an errant shot.
The National Rifle Association supports an end to the ban, arguing that it not only limits opportunities for today's hunters but makes it more difficult to recruit newcomers to the sport. The dwindling ranks of hunters in Massachusetts and elsewhere are a concern to the NRA. In this state, hunting licenses have dropped from 98,179 in 1996 to 70,207 in fiscal 2005. This decline, however, reflects long-term demographic trends and changes in the entertainment preferences of young people. It is unlikely to be affected significantly by permitting hunting on Sundays.
As the NRA itself acknowledges, another restraint on hunters' opportunities is accessible land. It is quite possible that private land owners who now permit hunting on their property would think otherwise if keeping their land open meant hunting on both weekend days.
One compromise proposal is to permit hunting on just a limited number of Sundays. But this could increase the risk of accidents, since recreational hikers are unlikely to be aware of just when the hunters will be in the woods or fields. One state, West Virginia, allows counties to vote on the issue of Sunday hunting, but this could also create confusion here since large stretches of open land often stretch between two counties, with no signs marking the borders.
Since before the Revolution, hunters in Massachusetts have put their firearms aside on Sundays. Fiddling with this tradition could upset the equilibrium between the 1 percent of the state's residents who hunt and the 99 percent who don't. The Legislature should shoot dead the Sunday hunting bill.
