WSJ on Internet Hunting

From the WSJ: the battle to outlaw Internet hunting rages on. The Humane Society has boosted the number of outlawing states to 33, and along the way, gotten some bonus coverage, like California’s ban on “Internet fishing” (I’d love to see that technology). The Humane Society is pleased with its success; its representative says this is “one of the fastest paces of reform for any animal issue that we can remember seeing.” Well, of course, given that no one lobbying against the law! As a result, according to the WSJ, of the 3,563 legislators who have voted on Internet hunting bills, only about 1% (38) have voted no. At least a few legislators have realized the stupidity of this initiative. As one of the naysayers, Gerald W. Hocker from Delaware, said, “Internet hunting would be wrong…But there’s a lot that would be wrong, if it were happening.”

One remarkable thing about the effort to ban Internet hunting–it has produced some of the most god-awful asinine quotes from our public officials. I’ve blogged many such quotes before (check my vegetarian category from 2005), but the WSJ adds a few more pearls:

* “Melanie George Marshall, a Delaware state representative who sponsored an Internet-hunting ban that passed in June, considers her legislation a matter of homeland security. “I don’t want to give ideas to people,” she says, “but these kinds of operations would have the potential to make terrorism easier.””

* “Ms. Marshall, the Delaware state representative, realizes that nobody is actually killing animals on the Internet, but thinks now is the time to act. “What if someone started one of these sites in the six months that we’re not in session?” ”

For more on this topic, see my Internet hunting editorial from 2005.

HT: Techdirt.