Bill to Restrict Archery Goes to Governor

A Virginia bill that allows counties to ban the discharge of bows has passed the House and Senate and is on Gov. Mark Warner's desk. Thanks to a last minute effort, the bill exempts bow shooting ranges and bowhunting.

House Bill 2741, introduced by Delegate John S. Reid, R-Richmond, allows counties to prohibit shooting a bow in heavily populated areas. Existing law allows counties to ban the discharge of firearms in populated areas.

A last minute amendment to the bill exempted indoor shooting ranges and allows hunting on land parcels two acres and larger. Those parcels must be in areas zoned for agricultural uses.

“This legislation was driven by safety and ethical concerns surrounding bowhunting,â€

Sounds like this could outlaw the urban archery program if the land is not zoned properly. What a crock!

Thanks to the USSA and BRC for their quick responses on Virginia bowhunters' behalf. Archery could have been outlawed in any place smaller than 2 acres and not zoned agricultural just like that... They are not just after your guns....

A Virginia bill that allows counties to ban the discharge of bows has passed the House and Senate and is on Gov. Mark Warner's desk.

This has not passed yet. If it concerns you let the governor know. You can send him a message at

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/Contac ... _form.html

We can all sit here and write comments on how we do not like some regulations or laws but it is a waste of typing if we only complain amongst ourselves. Complain to those that actually have the power to do something. We heard a lot of talk in the last presidential election on how we as sportsman are a new constituency that politicians are learning they better not ignore. If you do not like the idea of this bill then simply send an email to the governor and it can be as short as

please do not sign HB 2741 into law.


I am not really sure what the point of this law is. Being a pessimist, it worries me that it came about so fast. Most of the other bills relating to hunting and fishing were made known long before the politicians were in session, why wasn't this one? How is it going to be used?

If anyone has more information or insight on this please fill us in. I will do some digging and see what I can find.


Remember, you have no right to complain if you do nothing to stop what you do not like. Email has made it very easy for us to express our feelings towards our representatives, and do not think the governor wouldn’t notice 100 messages asking him to vote no on HB 2741. One or two messages may slip through the cracks but if he sees that 100 ask to vote no on it and only 5 ask him to vote yes he is more likely to listen to the no’s.

Did some quick digging and read the actual bill and not someone interoperation and found that the bill may actually be good for hunters and not bad. The bill still allows the shooting of nuisance deer (that is what 29.1-529 is) and it looks to me is actually aimed at promoting hunting and not restricting it. The old law said no discharge of a firearm on anything less then 5 acres. This bill would make it so that bows get an exemption to the 5 acre rule and will only be restricted by two acres and not the 5 of the past. I am no lawyer but I that is my take on it. Basically this bill would actually make it easier for hunters in urban areas.



Found that this bill is to amend
§ 15.2-1209. Prohibiting shooting of firearms in certain areas.
Any county may prohibit the shooting of firearms in any areas of the county which are in the opinion of the governing body so heavily populated as to make such conduct dangerous to the inhabitants thereof.
Any county that prohibits the firing of firearms shall provide an exemption for the killing of deer pursuant to § 29.1-529. Such exemption shall apply on land of at least five acres that is zoned for agricultural use.
If passed the amended version will be
A BILL to amend and reenact § 15.2-1209 of the Code of Virginia, relating to shooting of arrows from bows in populated areas.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 15.2-1209 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 15.2-1209. Prohibiting outdoor shooting of firearms or arrows from bows in certain areas.
Any county may prohibit the outdoor shooting of firearms or arrows from bows in any areas of the county which are in the opinion of the governing body so heavily populated as to make such conduct dangerous to the inhabitants thereof.
For purposes of this section, "bow" includes all compound bows, crossbows, longbows and recurve bows having a peak draw weight of 10 pounds or more. The term "bow" does not include bows that have a peak draw of less than 10 pounds or that are designed or intended to be used principally as toys. The term "arrow" means a shaft-like projectile intended to be shot from a bow.
Any county that prohibits the firing outdoor shooting of firearms or arrows from bows shall provide an exemption for the killing of deer pursuant to § 29.1-529. Such exemption for the shooting of firearms shall apply on land of at least five acres that is zoned for agricultural use. Such exemption for the shooting of arrows from bows shall apply on land of at least two acres that is zoned for agricultural use.

That's not good. I practice in my back yard all summer long. I live on less than 2 acres, but there is no danger in my practicing. My target is placed in front of a steep bank and all drawing is done in safe direction - at the bank. What I read here is if this is passed by the gov., I could be illegal depending on what the county does with it. Not good.

Rhino

I think technically you could currently be shooting illegally. From what I read this law would make it easier to shoot your bow. What I do not understand about this law is why does it need to be a state law? I was under the assumption that a county could set the max and min property size to fire a weapon. This law makes me wonder if the state says, if you are going to restrict property size for weapon discharge then it must be set at 5 acres. Maybe someone out there has a better understand of VA law and can provide their input.

This type of state law is called enabling legislation. Local government derives all of its authority from the state, it only has authority to the extent that the state has given it. There must have been some issue regarding local government authority to restrict archery. My guess, I do not know for sure, is that this issue probably arose vis a vis the hunters' rights amendment, which made hunting a right that could only be restricted by general law....the legislature. Through this legislation, the legislature enables counties to restrict archery within the scope defined by the law.

This bill does nothing to expand the rights of bowhunters. It just sets the limit of local restriction on bowhunting at 2 acres on land zoned for agricultural use. But it is enabling the restriction in the first place.