New Bill will Increase dwelling distance from 500 to 1000 feet

[Mach]

Massachusetts Bill Sets Unreasonable No Hunting Areas

3/17/11



A bill in Massachusetts could drastically decrease land open for hunting.

House Bill 657, introduced by Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein (D- Suffolk), would double the size of the state’s no hunting zones near occupied dwellings.

Currently, state law prohibits possessing a loaded firearm or hunting on someone else’s land within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling without the dwelling owner’s permission. This bill would arbitrarily double that distance to 1,000 feet.

If passed, the bill would force sportsmen to get permission to hunt from adjacent land owners even on many of the lands they currently hunt. In effect the bill could shut down vast tracks of land that are currently open to hunting.

“This bill could prohibit sportsmen from hunting on lands they have enjoyed for years simply because the person living next door doesn’t like hunting,” said Jeremy Rine, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance associate director of state services. “The current 500 foot no hunting restriction is already excessive, there is no justifiable reason for further limiting the amount of private land available to hunters.”

Take Action! Massachusetts sportsmen should contact their state representative ask them to oppose HB 657. Tell them there is no justification for limiting hunting land access and for infringing on private property rights. To find your state representative’s contact information, please visit www.ussportsmen.org/LAC.

http://www.ussportsmen.org/page.aspx?pid=2697

http://voteno-on657.com/Home_Page.php

[SheepDog_B]

God Damnit! FAIL

[HorizontalHunter]

Ridiculous. Another sexual intellectual that knows nothing about hunting trying to make the laws for hunters to follow.

Bob

[derek]

Is that article right, currently right now you can't possess a firearm within 500 ft of your neighbor without their permission? All you city and suburb dwellers turn in your guns.

[Jamie]

Is that article right, currently right now you can't possess a firearm within 500 ft of your neighbor without their permission? All you city and suburb dwellers turn in your guns.

No, you can't discharge a firearm within 500 feet without permission. As usualy, the media hasn't done it's research.

[lord1234]

Be warned, this bill died last year without a peep, and when i got ready to do some footwork, I was asked to back down. i did speak with the rep, who told me it was filed due to a local resident complaining about hunting near her property(even though it was well outside the 500ft line) for birds with shotguns.

[twogunwilly]

I hope a rabid coon bites her tits off.

[Tweed]

yes, the same language was filed before. yet so was the one gun a month, micro stamping, etc. Don't give up that inch!

[davemata]

I hope a rabid coon bites her tits off.

Time to find her and bait her property for 'yotes.

[jdubois]

Is that article right, currently right now you can't possess a firearm within 500 ft of your neighbor without their permission? All you city and suburb dwellers turn in your guns.

The text of MGL C.131 § 58 is ambiguous. You could read the law that you simply cannot possess a loaded firearm within 500 feet of any building without permission, or you could read it as not being able to possess a loaded firearm within 500 feet of any building without permission except on your own property, or you could read it (and I would argue this is the correct way, since it is a Fish and Game law) you cannot possess a loaded firearm within 500 feet of any building while hunting on land that is not your own.

The reason they don't just say, "while hunting" is so that somebody can't mount the defense that they weren't really hunting, they were "just strolling through the woods with a gun."