OCR Text |
Show fBy JIM RHODYP" ' A Would It Help? Agitation is beginning to mount for state laws making it a special offense when one hunter accidentally accidental-ly wounds or kills another while in field or forest. Supporters of this "special legislation" legis-lation" idea claim that with the annual an-nual loss of life in hunting accidents acci-dents showing little, if any, decrease, de-crease, something should be done by the states to impress upon all hunters the need for safety and safety practices. Each year the warnings are repeated, re-peated, each year the death toll is recorded just the same. Under common law, a man killing kill-ing another hunter may be prosecuted prose-cuted under the manslaughter statutes sta-tutes in most states; but the record shows that the accidental factor is Be sure before you shoot. usually sufficient for acquittal and all the careless gunner who has killed a man has to worry about is his own conscience. The problem is a big one and a ,broad one, and it would be ex: tremely difficult to enact special1 laws to protect hunters from themselves them-selves and at the same time continue con-tinue to cloak these same hunters with all the privileges and presumptions presump-tions o4 pre-accident innocence now provided generally by the law. However, there is no denying that a legislative approach to the problem of protecting hunters, with carelessness and the old "I didn't know it was loaded," or "I thought it was a deer" excuses banned as exemptions from punishment, might have a salutary effect. There is little doubt, too, if the annual slaughter of humans afield continues, the steps already being talked about will certainly be attempted. at-tempted. A A A Never shoot at signs no matter what kind. In many cases it is against the law. Ifs always against the law of common decency. Always restrain the ignorant acts of another. AAA |