In two weeks – Aug.
15, to be exact – I plan to be seated in a tree stand situated on the
edge of a crop field in the steamy Lowcountry of South Carolina.
That’s opening day
of the earliest white-tailed deer season in the U.S., which offers the
best shot at taking a buck with its antlers still fully encased in
velvet.
That’s pretty cool for me, but probably
irrelevant to all of you. What you might find interesting, however, is
that hanging on the trunk of the tree beside me will be an instrument
that’s the subject of great debate in Pennsylvania right now.
I will be hunting deer with my Remington R-15 rifle chambered in .30 Remington AR.
It’s a semiautomatic rifle – a firearm that’s presently banned for hunting in Pennsylvania.
That could change if House Bill 366 is passed.
Introduced in June by state Rep. Rick Saccone of
Allegheny County, the bill would change current law so that
semiautomatic, centerfire rifles would be legal for hunting, unless they
hold more than six rounds, including the one in the chamber. (The
magazine for my R-15 holds four rounds, and then the chamber holds one
more.)
Also legal would be semiautomatic, rimfire .22-caliber rifles with built-in ammunition limits.
Pennsylvania is one of only two states that doesn’t allow hunters to use semiautomatic rifles. Delaware is the other.
That’s not a state Game Commission rule. It’s state law.
Is it time to change the law?
I think so.
I have hunted big game with a semiautomatic rifle
in several states that allow them. I don’t understand why they
shouldn’t be legalized here.
IN THE NAME OF SAFETY
I’m aware of the argument that hunters will just
“spray and pray.” That is, they’ll just squeeze the trigger again and
again as they shoot at a running deer.
Well if you’ve been out in the woods during the
firearms deer or bear seasons, then you’ve certainly heard fast shot
volleys. That’s hunters emptying their pump, bolt and lever-action
rifles as fast as they can.
It’s not a good idea to shoot at deer that way,
but what’s the difference if hunters do it with a pump-action rifle or a
semiautomatic?
There are some who would argue it’s better to
shoot like that with a semiauto. Since all you have to do is squeeze the
trigger, you never have to take your face off the stock, and can keep
your eye on your target at all times.
A hunter unloading on a running deer with a
lever, bolt or pump rifle most likely lifts his head away from his scope
or iron sights whenever he works the rifle’s action. So he periodically
loses his sight picture. That’s when accidents happen.
But remember; I’m not advocating for taking shots at running deer with whatever type of rifle you shoot.
One shot, one kill is my philosophy.
And if that’s a guiding principle for hunting, then what difference does it make what rifle you’re shooting?
At some level, carrying a firearm into the woods carries with it a certain amount of personal responsibility.
It is possible to use any firearm responsibly. It’s also possible to use any firearm irresponsibly.
Here’s something else to think about. I see an
awful lot of people out at Lancaster County gun ranges shooting
semiautomatic rifles. People like to shoot them. And if that’s what
they’re practicing with the most, aren’t they the firearms they’ll be
most skilled with in the field?

Before I owned one, I used to think semiautos
weren’t very accurate. I consider myself to be an average rifle shooter
at best, and even I can hold a 2-inch group with my semiautomatic at 200
yards.
NOTHING NEW HERE
Pennsylvania already has some history with semiautomatic firearms when it comes to deer hunting.
In these Special Regulations Areas – Allegheny,
Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties – firearms deer hunters
are limited to shotguns and muzzleloaders. Those rules were put in
place decades ago because public perception holds that those firearms
are “safer” than centerfire rifles. (Two studies have found the safety
claim to be at least unsubstantiated, if not false altogether.)
Anyway, the firearms limitations were put in
place in those areas, which are Pennsylvania’s most heavily populated.
The thinking was there’s not enough room to shoot centerfire rifles in
those counties.
In a strange quirk of regulations that I’ve never
understood, however, semiautomatic shotguns can be used by deer hunters
in the Special Regs Areas. Those same shotguns can
not be used by deer hunters anywhere else in the state.
So the one place Pennsylvania already allows
semiautomatic firearms for big-game hunting is the same place where
firearms restrictions exist in the name of safety.
Try to wrap your head around that one.
Brian Hoover, the Game Commissioner from Delaware
County who represents the Southeast Region, is well aware of
Pennsylvania’s experience with semiautomatic shotguns in the Special
Regs Areas. He believes that experience is evidence that proves
semiautomatic rifles can be allowed for hunting in the rest of the state
without any dire consequences.
“One of the safety issues that people use in the
argument against semiautomatic weapons is that Pennsylvania puts more
hunters on the landscape than any other state,” Hoover said.
“My argument against that is that we have used
semiautomatic firearms for 30-plus years in some of the most densely
populated regions in the state with no major issues.”In Hoover’s mind,
“a semiauto is just another way to feed ammunition.”

He believes, “the news media has everyone believing that ‘semiauto’ equates to a military weapon.”
“Pennsylvania tends to be the last at everything,” Hoover said. “Let’s move into the 21
st century, both in our weaponry and our ability to hunt Sunday.”
SUPPORT FOR SEMIAUTOS
The National Rifle Association has thrown its
support behind HB 366. In a prepared statement, NRA leaders said
allowing semiautomatic rifles for hunting is the right thing to do to
bring the sport into the modern era.
“Semiautomatic rifles simply give hunters a much
greater ability to fire a timely and accurate follow up shot, which can
be the difference between wounding or speedily taking a game animal,”
the statement says.
“Another downside to manually operated firearms,
when compared to a semi-automatic rifle, is the felt recoil. Larger
calibers, including the popular 30-06 and larger, generate significant
recoil that average shooters may not handle well.
“Gas-operated semi-automatics have less recoil,
making them more user-friendly and safer, which also significantly
improves accuracy.”
At a Legislative hearing on the bill held in
June, Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Matt Hough said he
supports allowing semiauto rifles for hunting coyotes and foxes on a
limited basis.
But he told state lawmakers not to expect those rifles to be allowed right away for hunting deer and bears.
According to published reports, Hough said the
Game Commission is concerned about “the perception of hunters clad in
camouflage, carrying military-style weapons,” an article in the Morning
Call newspaper states.
Some landowners have threatened to post their
lands if semiautomatic rifles are allowed for hunting big game, the
article states.
State Rep. Bryan Cutler is the lone Lancaster County lawmaker to have signed on as a cosponsor to HB 366.
Not surprisingly, Cutler owns a semiautomatic rifle. In fact, he built it himself several years ago.
“I think it’s an option hunters should have,” Cutler said of semiautomatic rifles.
Cutler believes fears about semiautomatic rifles are unfounded.
“I think people confuse semiautomatic with full automatic,” he said. “Obviously there’s a big difference between the two.”
If semiautomatic rifles really were a safety
concern, Cutler said, there wouldn’t be so many states that already
allow them to be used for hunting.
“I kind of view (HB 366) as an upgrade in our laws,” he said. “It’s time to upgrade.”
HB 366 is currently being weighed by the state House Game and Fisheries Committee.