Virginia: State Senate to Vote on Sunday Hunting Legislation this Wednesday!

This Wednesday, January 25, the state Senate is expected to consider Senate Bill 464, legislation that would remove the prohibition on Sunday hunting in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This legislation passed in the state Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee by an 11 to 4 vote last week. Senate Bill 464, sponsored by state Senator Ralph Northram (D-6), was amended in committee by the sponsor to repeal the ban on Sunday hunting on private property and public waters, and to prohibit the hunting of deer with dogs on Sundays.

Currently, Virginia is one of only six states in the country that strictly bans hunting on Sundays. This prohibition harms Virginia’s economy and threatens the very future of our hunting heritage by discouraging hunter recruitment and retention. It is time that the decision on this hunting policy, like virtually all others, be delegated to the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries.

At a time when the economy is struggling and too many Virginians are out of work, legislators must not continue to refuse the enormous economic benefits associated with allowing hunting on Sundays. Comprehensive research from the National Shooting Sports Foundation shows that allowing hunting on Sundays would generate a total annual economic impact estimated at $296 million and create 3,927 jobs. All of this would be spurred by simply eliminating words from state statute books (the current prohibition), not spending taxpayer dollars on some pie-in-the-sky scheme.

Please contact your state Senator today, and respectfully urge him or her to pass this critical pro-hunting legislation and extend Virginians the same privileges and opportunities that hunters in the vast majority of states already enjoy. To locate your state Senator and their contact information, please click here.