Anti-Hunting Extremists Spending Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars on a Campaign of Lies Against Arizona’s Right to Hunt and Fish

Vote Yes on Prop. 109 and Tell Them to Spread Their Lies Elsewhere!

Last week, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Representative Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) announced their support of Arizona's Proposition 109 – the Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment.  Joining them at a press conference in the Arizona State Capitol was former NRA president Sandy Froman.  Arizona is among four states with a Right to Hunt and Fish Constitutional Amendment appearing on the November ballot.

If adopted, Prop. 109 will protect Arizona's generations-old hunting and fishing heritage and critical wildlife management practices against the kinds of emotion-driven bans that have been imposed in other states. 

The extremists at Fund for Animals just put $100,000 into the pot to fight Prop. 109.  The most powerful anti-hunting group, the Humane Society if the United States (HSUS), has already contributed more than $250,000 to the effort to defeat Prop. 109.  The radicals are actively engaged because they know the measure would protect hunting and fishing for future generations.  Prop. 109 defends the citizens and wildlife of Arizona from the deception and extremism of the misguided anti-hunting crowd.

The Amendment specifies that all laws and rules pertaining to hunting and fishing "shall have the purpose of wildlife conservation and management and preserving the future of hunting and fishing."  The language requires sound scientific reasoning, not emotion, as the basis for rules and regulations. Prop. 109 guarantees that hunting and fishing will continue to be regulated in a scientific manner in order to benefit wildlife populations. 

The opponents have resorted to telling lies in order to persuade voters to oppose Prop 109.  One of the most obvious is the claim that the Legislature is attempting to take power from the Game and Fish Commission.  The opposition has even named its campaign committee Arizonans Against the Power Grab.  The truth is that nothing in the proposition changes the relationship between the Legislature and Commission.  The Legislature has always had control over the Commission.  After all, the Legislature gave birth to the Commission in Title 17 of the state statutes.  Under the plain language of the amendment, the Legislature will continue to delegate its regulatory powers to the Commission.

In a rare moment of objectivity by the media, the Cronkite News Service attempted to make this point when it wrote “Jennifer Martin, chairwoman of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, said that critics of Proposition 109 are overreacting. ‘Anyone labeling this as a power grab is simply misinterpreting the language,’ Martin said. ‘What seems to be lost here is that this really won’t represent any change to the status quo.’”

The Right to Hunt and Fish, Proposition 109, is essential to protecting conservation as well as Arizona’s great hunting and fishing heritage. Be sure to vote YES on Prop 109!  Please tell all of your friends, family and fellow sportsmen to do the same.  Every vote counts. For more information on Prop 109 please go to:

www.nraila.org/yeson109 or http://www.facebook.com/Yeson109.