GETTING THE CROSSBOW LEGALIZED IN YOUR STATE
Crossbow Mania has arrived, my friends. The good news about all the positive things that the crossbow can do for our hunting heritage is spreading like wildfire. That, along with thousands of folks learning how fun it is to shoot and hunt with the crossbow, is creating a stir like none that has ever shook the sacred halls of archery.
Yet there are those who vehemently blaspheme and besmirch this ancient weapon of war and the hunt. These nay-sayers are a minority, but they are a loud, selfish and very obnoxious minority bound and determined to fight the crossbow issue to the end.
The core resistance is coming out of the state archery organizations and elitist national organizations that are filled with their own piety. These Lilliputians should be ignored and not be taken seriously for a single second. Any response or counteraction should proceed in an organized and methodic manner. Let me use my home state of Minnesota as an example.
Minnesota has 70,000 bowhunters. The state archery organization has 440 members. At their annual banquet last year they had a questionnaire at each place setting that contained questions pertaining to their members feelings on the crossbow. Much to their chagrin, they learned that a large percentage of their members favored the crossbow. So, did they come out in support of the crossbow and their members feelings? No! The leadership of the organization is just as bigoted and hateful as every still claiming to be the Voice of the Minnesota Bowhunter. Talk about arrogance and filling the crock with crap!
What are we to do to combat this microi-thinking on the part of such a small, but vocal
minority. In 2006, we are starting a new state archery organization whose primary focus will be on the crossbow. We will support all forms of archery and not succumb to any form of discrimination against ANY weapon, but our main objective will be to support and promote the crossbow for target competition and hunting.
In Minnesota, like so many other states, the legalization of the crossbow must be legislated. Once we have an organization with letterhead, business cards, articles and by laws, then we must recruit supporters. Any and everyone who will take a stand must be sought out, found and enlisted.
The only thing that has value to a politician is a vote. Our objective in Minnesota will be to get more than 440 members since that will put us on equal ground with the state archery organization. However, we will go beyond that number because our philosophy of supporting all forms of hunting with all weapons is not only the morally correct attitude, but it is required on the part of all hunters if we are to preserver our hunting heritage.
Now here is the good news! The louder the other side squeals, the worse they will look. With an legitimate organization, we now have a lobbying force that is organized and sanctioned. The politicians will not only have to listen and evaluate the question, but when all of our members began to write and call their state senators and representatives, I guarantee you we will have their complete attention and their ear.
If you wish to make the crossbow another option for the hunters of your state, I suggest you develop a plan similar to the one above. It can vary in degrees, but organization to gain the attention of legislators should be the main objective. These are just my thoughts on the matter, but we are implementing this plan both in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The results may not be immediate, but in the end, we will obtain our objectives. And that is to the make the crossbow just one more legal option for the modern hunter.
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