Bill would allow legally blind Texans to hunt
Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Seguin Republican, has filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session that would allow legally blind hunters to use a laser sight, or lighted pointing instrument. The devices are forbidden for sighted hunters.
Blind hunters would also have to have a sighted hunter along with them, but they could hunt any game that sighted people can hunt in the same seasons and using the same weapons.
"This opens up the fun of hunting to additional people, and I think that's great," Kuempel said.
Visually impaired people are able to shoot with the aid of a sighted person, he said.
"I've seen this on TV before, when they're taking target practice," Kuempel said. "When they aim the gun the guide tells them, aim two inches higher or two inches lower and you're on the target, and you're off and running."
ding ding ding.... RANT ALERT!!
The fun of hunting. I've heard of this but never really understood it. People say stuff like, "well, it's just nice getting out there in nature", and OK, I get that. I've done that myself more than a few times. Camping, hiking, floating down the river, taking some pictures, sketching.
The part I don't get is the enjoyment of killing the other animal. Where's the fun in that? Is it watching the animal spray blood or flip over from the impact of the bullets? Is it the fun of asserting your superiority over a "lowly animal" by killing it with sophisticated weapons? Or even unsophisticated ones? If you just like to shoot guns, why not just shoot at cans or bottles or even watermelons?
Now, assuming it's fun to spy your prey, and know who and what you're killing because you've seen it, how big it is, the way it moves, how beautiful it is, what the teeth look like as they snarled at you (death sentence!!!! this'll teach you to snarl at me you snarly bastard!!!).... what will be the "fun" part for a blind person? If it's just getting out in nature and shooting a gun at a target and hitting it, a tin can makes an impressive noise when hit. Is there fun in stroking the dead animal and feeling and smelling the blood and knowing you were the killing victor? And is there some sport in being told, "Ok over, now up, now pull the trigger"? You never even saw the creature whose life you've taken.
All these questions are rhetorical and sarcastic. I don't need anyone to actually try and explain what they think is fun about all this, unless you are trying to make me sick. I think hunting for "fun" is disgusting and revolting. Killing in self-defense or for food is defensible, but I get my hot-buttons pushed when someone suggests that killing other creatures is "fun".
(note: the picture does not show a blind person.)
(I changed the name of this post to break a link from a pro-gun blog. sheesh.)
Tags: Texas - blind
5 comments:
I tried hunting many years ago, starting with pheasant hunting. The most enjoyable part was to watch my Irish setter flush and retrieve birds, but they aren't the most tasty thing. Moved on up to deer hunting and damn near got shot by some drunken Rambo wanna be. Gave up hunting for good.
It is fun. The kind of hunting that is fun involves a weapon made by Nikon or Canon, or even the cheaper Kodak versions, with some Kodachrome ammo.
You have a good reason to rant.
Taking the life of another animal for sport is cruel, and should be prosecuted as animal cruelty as it would be if the victims were dogs and cats.
In today's world, where thoughtless ranchers and fearful residents have exterminated predators because of ignorant prejudices, the deer has become the most lethal wild animal in the U.S. (motor vehicle accidents) and needs to be controlled. These deer take more than 10 times the number of lives that those predators would have. Wolves never attacked humans, and big cats and bears attacks, although publicized extensively, are rare. The elimination of those wild animals has caused more problems than it solved.
Hunting for sport? Ha, that's not sport. It would be sporting if the animals had an equal chance of defending itself by hunting it's human hunter. now that would be sport.
I like wild game, and I'm not completely against hunting as long as it' controlled. But I did quit hunting over twenty years ago.
What's the big flap with legislation to allow blind people to hunt? They let Dick Cheney hunt in Texas.
...and he may as well be blind. He needs a guide to tell him where to shoot.
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