By Greg R. Lawson, Director of Communications
If the anti’s have their way, court decisions will become their “weapon of choice” to establish the all important “precedents” they need to squeeze sportsmen more and more until, eventually, there’s practically no room left to do what you love. It’s hard to imagine anything more monotonous and painful to experience for a sportsman than the agony of sitting through a long courtroom proceeding.
Imagine the typical courtroom scene…lawyers shuffling through stacks of paper and looking impatiently at their watches. Long speeches about the meaning of technical words. All kinds of “experts” constantly reiterating their “facts” and completely contradicting the other side’s “experts.” The entire process almost seems a bit comical.
However, sportsmen would be dead wrong if they stopped paying attention to what happens in courtrooms because it’s within those walls that the future of outdoor sports may well be decided.
The weapon of choice for many shrewd anti’s is no longer fake blood and picket signs, its legal briefs and precedents. Far more than just words on paper, legal precedents are the lifeblood of the legal system and establish the framework for making future legal decisions. For this reason, legal precedents have rapidly become the anti’s best friend.
For example, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation’s (USSAF) legal arm, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Legal Defense Fund, spent precious money and time defending trappers in Maine from an assault on their continued ability to trap. While this case was important to trappers in Maine, who could have seen their heritage go down the drain if the anti’s had won, the precedent that the case would have established was much farther reaching than trapping alone.
Had the anti’s won their case, every time a hunter, angler, or trapper accidentally caught an animal that happens to be on the Endangered Species List, the anti’s could ride into court and try to block those seasons. The antis might not have always succeeded in these efforts, but the precedent from the Maine case could well have enabled them to win in many situations.
Fortunately, with the sportsmen’s victory in federal court, the anti’s didn’t get their beloved precedent… this time. However, there is no doubt that there will be a next time, and time after that, etc. Indeed, the anti’s know that they don’t need to win every time they go to court; they just need to win here and there to put our outdoor heritage at risk.
The bottom line is that sportsmen…you need to pay attention to these cases. No one wants to go to court. But sometimes, there’s no choice. The USSAF plans to be there, but we’re going to need your help to keep us in the game financially so that we don’t let any precedents snuff out our proud heritage today or tomorrow.