Hiker’s death prompts calls to raise hunting age

On August 2nd a hiker was accidentally shot by a 14-year-old bear hunter on Sauk Mountain north of Seattle. The boy, who was not supervised by an adult, will be charged with manslaughter. Adult supervision is not required by law.

Washington previously required supervision for hunters 14 and younger but eliminated the restriction in 1994 when lawmakers revised the state’s gun laws, said Democratic Rep. Brian Blake, chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.

Blake, who believes the change was accidental, is seeking support for a measure to restore the age limit for solo hunters.

Attempts to raise the hunting age in Washington — last tried in 2005 — have been met with widespread opposition, said Blake, who did not think organized lobbying by hunting groups and the National Rifle Association was entirely to blame.

“Even family members can disagree about how this should be administered,” he said.

Obviously, this was a tragedy. And no shooters are supposed to fire until they’re positive of their target and what’s behind it. This kid made a terrible mistake.

The gun was a .270.

Whether or not that warrants a change in the hunting laws in Washington is a different matter.

Some of the comments on the Seattle PI are, um, interesting:

Regarding the manslaughter charges:

As he should. This is inexcusable. Training when he was 9? That should be against the law. The parents that allowed him to hunt without parental supervision should be charged also!

Well, there’s a difference between “should be against the law” and “is against the law,” isn’t there?

But later the same commenter follows up with:

“This should be illegal”… What should be illegal is a 9 year old taking hunting courses. Hunting should not begin before 16. How anyone could mistake a hikers for a bear is an excuse. It was intentional! Thrill of the kill!

Hmmm. He seems to have some information that we don’t. Apparently, he knows the shooter and what the shooter was thinking. Amazing.

Why should this kid be treated any differnetly than kid whom committed murder. Why should it matter weather he was hunting or not?

Murder? Who said anything about murder?

Here’s a treat:

This kid’s a killer. He enjoys killing. A lot. Wishful thinking on his part to kill a bear, but turned out to be a human being. What kind of sick *&*k trains his kid to kill like that?

This should be illegal and the parents should be charged, as well. Bunch of ignorant, country hicks. Makes me sick. 9 months is a f*&*ing cakewalk.

Shame on that disgusting family.

Tags: WA

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Hunting, Safety & Accidents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.