Posted on 10/31/2007 6:33:20 AM PDT by rellimpank
Dozens of convicted felons in Wisconsin were issued gun deer hunting licenses in 2006 despite a state law that bans them for life from possessing firearms.
Dozens of felons bought gun deer hunting licenses last year despite laws banning them from possessing firearms. Convicted felons are not asked to disclose their criminal history when seeking a hunting license, and the state has no tracking methods. Rep. Terry Musser (R-Black River Falls) said he will draft legislation requiring criminal background checks on firearm hunting license applicants.
If a felon lies and marks the box stating that he or she is not a felon, it's considered making a false statement, a misdemeanor carrying a one-year jail term. But hunters are basically on the honor system, said Mark Ostermann, researcher for the Maine fisheries and wildlife department.
"We are asking them to attest that they are not a felon, and if they lie on their application the clerk at Wal-Mart won't catch them," Ostermann said. "Does it work? A bad boy is gonna be a bad boy. Does having one more stick to beat them with encourage them to be a good boy? Maybe."
The state, meanwhile, does not prohibit felons from buying gun hunting licenses and makes no effort to monitor if felons are purchasing them, the Journal Sentinel found.
An analysis of records from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Department of Natural Resources shows that at least 77 felons bought deer licenses last year. The actual number was likely higher because only one of every five Wisconsin hunters consented to release their names when applying for a license.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Check this out...I had to read it twice to make sure it wasn't satire --go to the link for the full “story.”
New York Governor To Examine Black Powder Loophole: Last week, The Investigators went undercover to expose a gaping loophole in New York state’s gun laws. Now Governor Eliot Spitzer is promising to examine the problem more closely The black powder rifle’s exemption from gun laws is one of the last remaining major gun loopholes in the state of New York. But the days of buying this deadly weapon no questions asked may be numbered
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5722620
Just another convenient list of gun owners? No thanks Mr. Rino!
Heck...you’ve got to have a hunting license to trap.
Deadly weapon? If that buck I saw last night had been bigger...he would have been dead. LOL!!
When's the last time anyone read of someone holding up the local "Stop and Rob" with a smoke pole?
BTTT
LOL, my first thought from the headline.
“Getting a deer permit is light years away from possessing a gun.”
Kind of what I was thinking. Maybe the writer is mixing up hunting license with deer permit???
The permit asks if you are a felon, I guess if you are they won't sell you a license. If you lie to get a license they nail you for false statement, not possession of a gun.
I thought that Wisconsin was one of the states that restores convicted felons their rights after they serve their time (at least for voting). What? You mean that guns aren’t part of the rights that were restored?
What for moron? You've already got your background check to buy guns. A gun doesn't come from a hunting license. This is just another bureaucratic money and time wasting hastle.
But you still have to have a hunting license. Reneders the whole subject, moot.
These guys deserve to go back to prison for stupidity. Not only do they basically admit to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, they volunteer to release their names when they are not required to do so.
Hmm. Wonder when they’ll start crosschecking IRS and Social Security data?
you dont need the right to own a weapon to get a hunting license.
Really, isn’t that the truth? ...probably about as often as we’ve seen drive by bayonetings from evil black rifles with bayonet lug attachments.
I'd feel safer if they wouldn't issue permits to John Kerry.
Why is this stupid? Because a black powder weapon is completely unregulated and can be used during regular season.
LOL...those drive-by bayonet slayings are rampant!!
Maybe they’re just buying the licenses to prepare for running for office, in the John Kerry tradition.
OH NO!!! the word FELON they might rob the deer!
because the felon is actually doing something positive with a firearm this is a stupid restriction on a felon IF THEY WANTED A FIREARM THEY COULD GET ONE TO COMMIT A CRIME
use some EMPATHY felons hunting is the least of our worries
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