50 Yard Safety Zone Bill for Howard County Bill 15-23

[Doctortoxic]

A hearing for a Bill to reduce the safety zone in HoCo is being heard soon. Dec 14 at 7 pm.

Howard County Delegation Local Bill Hearing Signup

Please fill out and submit this form to testify at the Howard County Delegation Local Bill Hearing on December 14 at 7pm in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building. The hearing can be viewed online on the Howard County Council website until 11pm. This form will close on 12/14 at...

docs.google.com

 

[GutPile]

Need this state wide. Would be a game changer for a lot of small properties.

 

[Wayne]

There’s a mandated safety zone for archery? Silly, silly people.

I can have a 20 yard range in my basement.

 

[pbharvey]

Here’s the bill

https://www.howardcountymd.gov/sites/default/files/2022-12/hoco15-23.pdf

 

[dlharsh]

Need this state wide. Would be a game changer for a lot of small properties.

+1. I'm in Baltimore County and 150 yards for bow hunting, which is the same as gun doesn't make sense.

 

[Melnic]

This is voted on in the county or state?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SummitCnty]

County level. So is Sunday hunting.

 

[axshon]

This is definitely needed. There is no way for me to safely harvest deer from my property in Ellicott City since there are enough libs around that would object. This would reduce the number of people I have to ask down to three, only one of whom is questionable.

The number of dead deer on Route 40 coming out of Catonsville is obscene. Harvesting a few and putting them in the freezer would save damaged vehicles and terrible deaths for a lot of critters, not to mention gardens and flower beds.

 

[Doctortoxic]

So quick update on this. It’s shaping up to be an uphill battle. If you live in Howard and are a Bowhunter, you need to contact your delegates NOW to let them know you support this and why it can be done safely. Come on guys let’s push this one over the finish line.

 

[Raineman]

It’s shaping up to be an uphill battle.

TROT $$

 

[lazarus]

So quick update on this. It’s shaping up to be an uphill battle. If you live in Howard and are a Bowhunter, you need to contact your delegates NOW to let them know you support this and why it can be done safely. Come on guys let’s push this one over the finish line.

Is it still out there? I’ll tell all my friends. I’ve contacted them a few times over the last two years and it was always outside the time they’d consider citizen input on a bill

 

[lazarus]

SB96. Sponsored by Katie Fry Hester. I am surprised she did, but gratified.

Tell all your friends to support it!

Legislation - SB0096

 

[lazarus]

I heard back on my outreach to the 9a representatives supporting the bill. It is being withdrawn and an identical house bill is being filed instead (it is apparently easier?). It is under discussion

Discussion will continue in a meeting on Friday at 10am and in next week's Howard County Delegation meeting on 1/25 at 8:30am. Both meetings will be livestreamed through the MGA website. You can track the bill here: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0096

They highly encourage anyone supportive to contact them, now and Once it is refilled in the house, and later file written testimony in support. It sounds like they’d like to get it passed and positive input would help.

 

[Doctortoxic]

I heard back on my outreach to the 9a representatives supporting the bill. It is being withdrawn and an identical house bill is being filed instead (it is apparently easier?). It is under discussion

Discussion will continue in a meeting on Friday at 10am and in next week's Howard County Delegation meeting on 1/25 at 8:30am. Both meetings will be livestreamed through the MGA website. You can track the bill here: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0096

They highly encourage anyone supportive to contact them, now and Once it is refilled in the house, and later file written testimony in support. It sounds like they’d like to get it passed and positive input would help.

Hey Bud. Just sent you an PM about this.

 

[Doctortoxic]

Ok it’s crunch time everyone. If you want to see the safety zone reduced to 50 yards for archery hunting in HoCo, start writing to the following delegates NOW. They are meeting about this bill tomorrow morning, according to my sources.

Here is the delegation list. Email them all regardless if you live in HoCo or not.
The county delegation is

chao.wu@house.state.md.us
natalie.ziegler@house.state.md.us
courtney.watson@house.state.md.us
pam.guzzone@house.state.md.us
terri.hill@house.state.md.us
jessica.feldmark@house.state.md.us
vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us
jen.terrasa@house.state.md.us

 

[Alphabrew]

Ok it’s crunch time everyone. If you want to see the safety zone reduced to 50 yards for archery hunting in HoCo, start writing to the following delegates NOW. They are meeting about this bill tomorrow morning, according to my sources.

Here is the delegation list. Email them all regardless if you live in HoCo or not.
The county delegation is

chao.wu@house.state.md.us
natalie.ziegler@house.state.md.us
courtney.watson@house.state.md.us
pam.guzzone@house.state.md.us
terri.hill@house.state.md.us
jessica.feldmark@house.state.md.us
vanessa.atterbeary@house.state.md.us
jen.terrasa@house.state.md.us

Everyone in that list is a major libtard

 

[lazarus]

Everyone in that list is a major libtard

So? Email them ANYWAY!

Some of the senators and delegates appear to be open minded. A few haven't said anything (I've been listening to the delegation meetings). Only Terrasa and Feldmark are openly hostile to it.

So, please contact them. If they hear a lot of people pushing for the bill, and especially if you hit on the fact that 50yds is still a LONG distance, and this is only going to impact properties over 2 acres in size, it doesn't change you have to have permission to hunt on someone else's property, they'll realize it really doesn't impact them or their constituents. It is mostly about western HoCo still.

They seem to be of the mind that there are going to be hunters perched on cul da sac community mailboxes hunting or shooting off the back deck of their townhouse in Wild Lake. No, they might not see reason, but some other delegate on the list might!

So please take the time. If they see no interest, they for sure are not going to support it.

 

[lazarus]

Yup, amendment to gut the bill passed.

Passed with just Senator Lam voting against it even as amended. He heard a lot of constituents with concerns against the bill.

I guess waiting to see the language as amended (I am guessing will be filed today or tomorrow on the website), but pretty sure there is NO reduction of the zone from 150 to 100yds for everyone else.

I'd say let's push next year, but I don't think the county delegation as currently composed will ever do anything more. Especially not after the feel good of doing something, that doesn't really do much of anything. But maybe next year we can try to push moving it to 100yds for everyone else next year if that wasn't changed.

The reduced archery safety zones will only apply to crop damage permit holders and those in the county managed hunt program. I just sent this off to them. I am sure no good this year since they already voted the gutted bill forward. I doubt it'll do any good next year either, but I can hope we can try against and get them to do SOMETHING.

Dear Senators and Delegates,

I am disappointed that proposed bill 15-23 did not pass as originally written. Many counties in Maryland, including Montgomery county, have proven that 50yd archery hunting safety zones are safe and effective for deer management. The bill as amended to only allow those hunting in the county managed hunt program and crop damage permit holders a reduced safety zone does nothing to actually improve safety, as a 50yd safety zone is already proved to be 100% effective at keeping others safe. The Department of Natural Resources director shared unequivocal evidence with the Howard County delegation that there is never, not once, in Maryland since statistics have started being collected in the 1970s of a single incident where another person was injured or killed by an archery hunter in the state of Maryland. This includes counties much more densely populated than Howard county that have 50 yard safety zones. Not once in hundreds of thousands of hunts over 50+ years.

The bill as amended will do little to reduce the deer herd in Howard county, and thus have little impact on the safety of residents from increasing Lyme disease and traffic accidents from collisions with deer. Deer don’t stay put, and just because a farmer or their agent has some more breathing room to hunt with a bow, doesn’t mean their neighbor where the deer are spending their day and then coming out at night to eat the farmer’s crops can now hunt their 5 acre property, because their next door neighbor 140yds away on their own 5 acres, doesn’t want them hunting. The county managed hunt program has little impact on deer numbers, because it can only be run on county property. Not on private property near any of the parks, where most of the deer are located. Nor does it reduce safety zones for state controlled land, such as Hugg Thomas WMA, Patuxent or Potapsco parks. Keeping the areas where deer can be hunted limited.

I urge you in the next session, to please refile and take up 15-23 as it was originally written for consideration. People’s concerns that the bill would be unsafe are not grounded in the actual 50 years of data proving the bill would be safe. If those concerns cannot be overcome, then I would at least urge the delegation to consider a bill reducing the safety zone to 75 or 100yds for those not holding a crop damage permit or participating in the county managed hunt program. That would make a much greater impact than 15-23 as amended today will make and not reduce safety any, as even 50yds has proven safe.

 

[Doctortoxic]

OMG. These ******* empty headed liberal jerkoffs really are trying to change the definition of ******* stupid, huh?

I’m sure none of these idiots have ever set foot in the woods to understand how safe this change would have been. Hell I bet they couldn’t even practically demonstrate what 50 yards is. I ******* hate the stupidity in this State. Time to start considering where I want to retire in a decade because I can guarantee, it ain’t gonna be among a bunch of cretins.

 

[Raineman]

Like I said in post #10

T.R.O.T.