Hunting, fishing, farming addressed by pre-filed resolution

Nevada Daily Mail

Seeing ballot initiatives in other states by Washington-based vegan and animal rights groups as a threat to Missourians' rights to hunt, fish and farm, a state representative from Dent County in southeast central Missouri has signed up more than 30 co-sponsors, including State Rep. Randy Pike, R-Adrian, for a House joint resolution to make those prerogatives constitutionally guaranteed.

"While Missouri state agencies can create rules to restrict our ability to hunt, fish and farm, those rules must comply with our state constitution," said the bill's author, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem, in a Thursday news release. "One way to ensure that out-of-state special interests don't pass rules restricting the number of cows a rancher can own or making it illegal to hunt deer is to protect the right to hunt, fish and farm in our constitution."

Pike, who represents Vernon and Bates counties in the 126th District, said Thursday night that the rights addressed in Smith's bill "need to be protected because the farmers and ranchers are the ones who could get hurt.

"We need to protect them from other entities' passing stupid legislation," Pike said. "The rural areas have to be more pro-active than reactive because urban areas are sometimes reacting to an immediate situation instead of thinking about what's going to happen in the future."

State Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, said a similar measure was debated during his eight-year House tenure that ended in 2010. "It was filed mostly to assert state sovereignty against what appears to be a threat to the rights to hunt and fish," Emery said Thursday.

"My recollection is that the last one did get debated on the floor. The legislature is in full control of a joint resolution. It does not require the signature of the governor, although it can be challenged in terms of the language."

The senator said the resolution might either designate a date for it to be voted on or direct Gov. Jay Nixon to choose between the primary and general elections.

Needing only simple majorities in the Missouri House and Senate in Jefferson City to be put on the statewide ballot next year, Smith's proposal is similar to a constitutional amendment that recently passed in North Dakota. "There, outside special interest groups representing vegan and animal rights activists poured millions of dollars into a ballot measure designed to alter that state's animal laws," Smith said, noting that his co-sponsors include House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka.

"My amendment is a firewall, protecting Missouri from these outside groups. It will preserve Missourians' choices at the supermarket and enshrine our long-held traditions of agriculture, hunting and fishing. Consumers and producers alike deserve the right to raise and consume the food of their choice without interference from big-money special interests and out-of-touch bureaucrats."