Mississipians enshrined a right to "hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife" in their state constitution last night by a 87.8 percent to 12.2 percent vote. The ballot measure was buoyed by support from hunting groups and the National Rifle Association.
"Years down the road, even a hunter-friendly state might turn the other way. It might be 20 years down the road; it might be 50. That's the whole point of a constitutional amendment--to protect the future, and a hunting heritage that is rich in Mississippi currently, we want that to be enshrined for generations to come," NRA spokesperson Lacey Biles told the Sun Herald.
Opposition to the amendment was limited, but the Humane Society did publicly speak against it.
"It could prevent really progressive reform that would be necessary if there were really egregious abuse, certain forms of trapping like the kind we’re trying to fight against in Maine," the Humane Society’s Tracy Coppola told Governing.
Following the overwhelming victory for the initiative, Hattiesburg American columnist Phil DiFatta summed up the view of supporters.
"It just makes it tougher for the anti-hunters to take away our rights to hunt and fish," DiFatta told the paper. "Like they’re voting in Maine right now to stop bear hunting, even though it is a good conservation practice to keep them from eating people’s pets and people. The anti-hunters want the bears."
"So what it does is it makes them make an amendment to the constitution of the state," he said. "To repeal it, they can’t just vote it out or vote in where it’s, ‘All right, we’re not going to let you hunt or fish anymore.’"