Wikipedia defines Blue Laws as “a type of law, typically found in the United States and Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship.” These laws have roots deep into American History. As we doubtlessly all remember from our history classes, several of the original 13 colonies were founded essentially as theocracies. During the colonial period, laws mandating church attendance, forbidding housework on the Sabbath, and enforcing all other manner of religious doctrine were not at all uncommon.
Fast-forward to 1787 when our founding fathers were drafting the Constitution. They had the wisdom to realize that many Americans had emigrated from Europe in order to escape the tyranny of a government using its power to enforce one particular set of religious views on the entire population. In order to prevent this abuse of power, they wrote the establishment clause into the first amendment: “Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
So, any of you just tuning in might think that everyone got the message from the establishment cause. You might think that it's been 200 years since anyone in the US tried to use government power to force their particular set of religious views on the rest of the population...unfortunately you'd be horribly wrong. Those old Colonial laws were never taken off the books; instead, new ones were added and the whole racket went largely unchallenged until the late 20th century.
As I'm sure you already know, many states still have these Blue Laws built into their game regulations. Hardworking hunters get their weekend effectively cut in half. The general apathy of the hunting public has lead to a situation where religious doctrine is being enforced via threat of imprisonment or fine. How can this situation possibly be justified? Let's take a look at some of the most common arguments against lifting the prohibition on Sunday hunting.
Fast-forward to 1787 when our founding fathers were drafting the Constitution. They had the wisdom to realize that many Americans had emigrated from Europe in order to escape the tyranny of a government using its power to enforce one particular set of religious views on the entire population. In order to prevent this abuse of power, they wrote the establishment clause into the first amendment: “Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
So, any of you just tuning in might think that everyone got the message from the establishment cause. You might think that it's been 200 years since anyone in the US tried to use government power to force their particular set of religious views on the rest of the population...unfortunately you'd be horribly wrong. Those old Colonial laws were never taken off the books; instead, new ones were added and the whole racket went largely unchallenged until the late 20th century.
As I'm sure you already know, many states still have these Blue Laws built into their game regulations. Hardworking hunters get their weekend effectively cut in half. The general apathy of the hunting public has lead to a situation where religious doctrine is being enforced via threat of imprisonment or fine. How can this situation possibly be justified? Let's take a look at some of the most common arguments against lifting the prohibition on Sunday hunting.
#1) The establishment clause only restricts the federal government, hunting regs are passed by the states.
This here's an old argument. They're pointing out that 1st amendment says “Congress shall pass no law...” and these state hunting regulations have most certainly not been passed by Congress.
The problem with this argument is a legal concept called incorporation. The idea behind incorporation is that the rights listed in the Bill of Rights are not actually granted to us by that document. Instead, these rights are essential human rights that we are all born with. All that the Bill of Rights does is list a few of these rights that the founders considered most important and explicitly tells the government to keep their "cotton pickin' mitts" off of them. Given that context, it wouldn't make much sense to prevent the feds from infringing on these rights and then allow state and local governments to walk all over them. So, under this reasoning, the Supreme court has incorporated most of the Bill of Rights, including the establishment clause to also restrict the states.
#2) The hunters can't have the woods for seven days a week, the non-hunters need at least one day.
This is one of the more ridiculous ones I've heard. Yeah, I'm sure they passed these law on behalf of non-hunters; the fact that your “one day a week” just happens to fall on the Sabbath is complete and total coincidence...
There are two easy ways to shoot it down. The first argument is a pragmatic one. There are dozens of states (Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, New York, etc.) that allow Sunday hunting and these states do not have problems. Bird watchers aren't being shot at left and right, hikers aren't protesting in the streets for lack of access. It's simply a non-issue.
Secondly, even if it were an issue, quite frankly hunters and anglers deserve what little access we get, especially during the already short hunting seasons in many states. Hunters and anglers pay heavy licensing fees and then we also pay an additional $200 million annually in excise taxes on our guns, ammunition and other gear. The contributions of the rest of the outdoor going public pales in comparison. These funds are then earmarked specifically for the state fish and game offices to fund almost every outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation program in the country. It might sound harsh, but since hunters have quite literally payed for that access, as well as the conservation programs that keep our wildlife populations healthy, we deserve access to those resources 7 days a week.
#3) Gunfire is disrespectful to churchgoers.
What about Jews and Catholics on Saturday? Isn't Saturday hunting disrespectful to them? Or what about Muslims on Friday? or Baptists on Wednesday? I guess we have to ban hunting on those days too? Unless you are suggesting that your religion is the only one that deserves government protection?...gee, I seem to remember something about the constitution having a 14th amendment with an equal protection clause?
#4) The Bible says that we should rest on the Sabbath.
You're right it does. And you know what? If you want to decide that you therefore don't want to go hunting on Sundays, great! Good for you! It might even make you a better person than me. If you want to sit down with all your friends and family and try to convince them not to hunt on Sundays in order to save their mortal souls, that's great too! Go for it!
But here's the deal: We live in a free country, so you don't get to use the power of the government to threaten the rest of us with fines or imprisonment in order to force your religious views on us. That's how they do things in Iran, not how we do things here. And even if you could force your religious views on your fellow citizens, is that really what you want? Isn't faith willingly given infinitely more valuable than faith that has been forcefully mandated?
Have you heard any arguments that I didn't address here? Leave them in the comments below.
If you live in one of the states that currently bans Sunday hunting, then please support hunters and our Constitution by writing your state representatives and letting them know that you oppose these bans.
-K.M.
This here's an old argument. They're pointing out that 1st amendment says “Congress shall pass no law...” and these state hunting regulations have most certainly not been passed by Congress.
The problem with this argument is a legal concept called incorporation. The idea behind incorporation is that the rights listed in the Bill of Rights are not actually granted to us by that document. Instead, these rights are essential human rights that we are all born with. All that the Bill of Rights does is list a few of these rights that the founders considered most important and explicitly tells the government to keep their "cotton pickin' mitts" off of them. Given that context, it wouldn't make much sense to prevent the feds from infringing on these rights and then allow state and local governments to walk all over them. So, under this reasoning, the Supreme court has incorporated most of the Bill of Rights, including the establishment clause to also restrict the states.
#2) The hunters can't have the woods for seven days a week, the non-hunters need at least one day.
This is one of the more ridiculous ones I've heard. Yeah, I'm sure they passed these law on behalf of non-hunters; the fact that your “one day a week” just happens to fall on the Sabbath is complete and total coincidence...
There are two easy ways to shoot it down. The first argument is a pragmatic one. There are dozens of states (Texas, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, New York, etc.) that allow Sunday hunting and these states do not have problems. Bird watchers aren't being shot at left and right, hikers aren't protesting in the streets for lack of access. It's simply a non-issue.
Secondly, even if it were an issue, quite frankly hunters and anglers deserve what little access we get, especially during the already short hunting seasons in many states. Hunters and anglers pay heavy licensing fees and then we also pay an additional $200 million annually in excise taxes on our guns, ammunition and other gear. The contributions of the rest of the outdoor going public pales in comparison. These funds are then earmarked specifically for the state fish and game offices to fund almost every outdoor recreation and wildlife conservation program in the country. It might sound harsh, but since hunters have quite literally payed for that access, as well as the conservation programs that keep our wildlife populations healthy, we deserve access to those resources 7 days a week.
#3) Gunfire is disrespectful to churchgoers.
What about Jews and Catholics on Saturday? Isn't Saturday hunting disrespectful to them? Or what about Muslims on Friday? or Baptists on Wednesday? I guess we have to ban hunting on those days too? Unless you are suggesting that your religion is the only one that deserves government protection?...gee, I seem to remember something about the constitution having a 14th amendment with an equal protection clause?
#4) The Bible says that we should rest on the Sabbath.
You're right it does. And you know what? If you want to decide that you therefore don't want to go hunting on Sundays, great! Good for you! It might even make you a better person than me. If you want to sit down with all your friends and family and try to convince them not to hunt on Sundays in order to save their mortal souls, that's great too! Go for it!
But here's the deal: We live in a free country, so you don't get to use the power of the government to threaten the rest of us with fines or imprisonment in order to force your religious views on us. That's how they do things in Iran, not how we do things here. And even if you could force your religious views on your fellow citizens, is that really what you want? Isn't faith willingly given infinitely more valuable than faith that has been forcefully mandated?
Have you heard any arguments that I didn't address here? Leave them in the comments below.
If you live in one of the states that currently bans Sunday hunting, then please support hunters and our Constitution by writing your state representatives and letting them know that you oppose these bans.
-K.M.
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