Issue Position: Preserving Virginia's Right to Hunt and Fish

Statement

PRESERVING VIRGINIA'S RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH
Millions of Virginians enjoy the challenge of hunting, target shooting, and fishing. As a child, I spent much of my summers on Smith Mountain Lake and Schroon Lake in the Adirondacks of New York fishing for Perch, Blue Gill, Crappie, Carp, Catfish (see picture at left) and if I was lucky, Striped Bass or up north for Perch, Bass, and, if I was lucky, Pike, Pickerel, and Trout.

My mother's family comes from a long rural tradition from Franklin County in Southwest Virginia. In many families hunting and gun ownership is a family tradition and very much a way of life. The Right to Hunt is enshrined Article XI, Sect. 4 of the Constitution of Virginia.

Virginia's natural assets also provide tourist dollars with national bass fishing competitions occurring on our lakes and rivers and our ban on Sunday hunting limits Virginia's ability to leverage our resources.

We must respect the values, activities, and way of life of all of Virginia's residents. Keeping our rivers, streams, and lakes clean allows Virginians to enjoy the same activities that I did as a child. Preserving open space is critical to ensuring opportunities to hunt. However, as with all things, there is a time and place for everything, and while the vast majority of gun owners use them responsibly, there are a small number of people who do not. I believe in the right to bear arms to hunt and protect one's family, but I do not believe that felons, terrorists, or troubled teenagers have a right bear arms that threaten our children.

The 36th Senate District is home to the Potomac River -- the top bass and snakehead fishery in the United States.

Preserving the quality of our streams, rivers and lakes and open space are critical state government functions that preserve our quality of life, promote tourism, and our environment for generations to come.

I will continue to:

Work to end the ban on Sunday hunting in Virginia.
Fight to encourage the preservation of open space for hunting.
Fight to keep our lakes, rivers and streams clean ensuring Virginians right to fish.
Continuing Virginia's membership in the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin.
Properly fund programs to track and control invasive species such as the Northern Snakehead.

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