Posted on 04/02/2014 4:59:56 AM PDT by rellimpank
L SPRINGFIELD — After a state conservation officer ticketed the National Rifle Association’s Illinois lobbyist last December for breaking a hunting law, the gun-rights advocate dutifully paid his $120 fine.
But Todd Vandermyde, one of Springfield’s most powerful and effective lobbyists, didn’t stop there.
A month later, he worked with one legislator to rewrite the law he broke.
And not long after that, he enlisted help from House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, to carry legislation that, at least initially, would have greatly restrained the authority of Department of Natural Resources police officers to venture onto private property.
“I had a run-in with a couple of cops and because of it, it educated me about the law, and I thought there were some inequities of the law that needed fixed,” Vandermyde told the Chicago Sun-Times.
(Excerpt) Read more at politics.suntimes.com ...
"Private property"? Is that what they call The King's Land in Illinois?
Stupid law, to begin with
Gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar then wants to change the rules to make it okay?
Who does he think he is?
The IRS?
“for having a loaded crossbow with him while he was riding on an all-terrain vehicle”
to save everybody 5 minutes.....
No it would seem that "private property" is what they call "private property" From the article:
A report written by one of the two conservation cops who encountered Vandermyde that day on private property described him as having a “very aggravated and disrespectful tone” toward the officer who questioned him about his crossbow and wrote him the ticket — a claim Vandermyde flatly denied.He was given a ticket for not having his crossbow in a case. Which to me is a BS reg. It would appear that the "conservation officers" were trespassing when they gave him the ticket.
Leftist politicians get upset when someone works within the system to change a law. The nerve of anyone who would do that.
Guess it's different in Illinois.
described him as having a “very aggravated and disrespectful tone” toward the officer who questioned him about his crossbow and wrote him the ticket
A mere peasant "takes a tone" with a King's Man? HORRORS!
Too bad peasant Vandermyde didn't have a dog the King's Men could shoot.
It would appear that the "conservation officers" were trespassing when they gave him the ticket.
Not in their little world. You'd get a chain-mailed gauntlet across the face for suggesting that in front of them...
“...Vandermyde was ticketed by an Illinois conservation cop for
having a loaded crossbow while riding on an all-terrain vehicle
during a deer-hunting excursion...
...State Wildlife Code says that hunters who use crossbows have to
have them in cases whenever they’re driving vehicles, even an ATV...
...House Bill 4377, removes the provision in state law that
hunters must case their crossbows when they’re operating a vehicle.
The measure passed the House last week 84-28 and now is in the Senate...”
We had the same type of law in Wis. firearms some bows and cross bows had to be unloaded and cased in or on vehicle.
Most of it that was done away with the rewriting of are CCW law.
A good thing.
More power to him if he can get a bad law changed.
He has an excellent point about law enforcement officials accessing private property without permission or a warrant.
And, while I don’t think a law forbidding it is necessary, it does not strike me as a particularly good idea to ride an ATV with a loaded crossbow... ...at least not the way I ride ATVs. ;-)
Game wardens seem to feel that they can go anyplace. There was a case a good ten years ago where two of them were stalking some hunter on his own property trying to catch him shooting a deer after sunset They were in full camo and really not seen by the guy because they were hiding in some brushy woods. Well he shot at a deer between them and him. missed the deer and killed one of the kings men. Wonder of all wonders he was found NOT GUILTY. The court room was packed with "law enforcement" types in uniform to intimidate the jury, but the jury did the right thing.
That’s what the judge always tells the accused who doesn’t like the law to do. So he did it. Now the cat calls?
All of these unload and keep secure laws are just plain stupid. If I want to ride on a 4 wheeler with a loaded rifle that is my business.
We need a systematic review of existing laws, with an automatic repeal of any law that is not re-authorized within five years. There are far too many laws, and most of them are stupid. Riding an ATV with a loaded crossbow may be risky, but the law has no business getting involved.
--as far as the game warden on "private property" , while I can't speak to Illinois, many states have some variation on the "open fields" law (as it is called in South Dakota) --a law enforcement officer can patrol on farm or ranchland but would need a warrant to enter a building, except in cases of pursuit or "probable cause", if suspecting a felony was in progress------
...and there is the real issue; a bottom feeder bureaucrat got his panties in a knot because he was "disrespected". The ruling class demands you to bow before them!
Not when you're a Conservative, apparently.
Stupid law, to begin with
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