Quote Originally Posted by Tom Smith View Post
Hi Dan,
In the old federal regs there was a mention of firearms. In the new ones they are not mentioned because they are falconry regs. The issue of permitted hunting methods for any given season or quarry can be addressed somewhere else keeping the whole issue of guns and falconry separate. In other words it is not necessary for the falconry laws to take sides in a firearms issue and thereby avoiding either side of the debate if you see what I'm saying.

If you would like to align with NRA it would be good if there was no mention of firearms in the falconry regs at all, in my opinion.

There is no need to explain anything to my friends now, and I wouldn't be brave enough to even try, because we have no mention of firearms in our falconry law. Which actually brings up another point, some falconers I knew were carrying sidearms illegally while hawking and why not since personal protection is a valid reason for carrying a side arm. A person busted for carrying that firearm could have his falconry permits revoked, so why risk it on a law that goes against ones constitutional rights in the first place?

People have the right to carry that gun but unfortunately falconers don't have a constitutional right to carry that hawk and that can be taken away from that falconer.
Tom,

When you say there was mention of firearms in the old federal regs, how far back do you mean? There hasnt been mention of firearms federally since I became a falconer in the early 90s.

When I was first licensed in Utah there was a state requirement against possesing a firearm while practicing falconry. I see the logic - "let keep those guys from cheating and killing stuff with a gun and prenteding the caught it with their hawk during the seasons when falconry is open and gun hunting is closed...." but its nuts.

Washington has never had that restriction, that I am aware of, and its a damn good thing. There are three incidents I know of where a falconer wase hunting in undevleped industrial areas and got into very dangerous situtations, and all three times the falconer had a concealed weapon permit and was packing. He never needed it, but it was good he had it.

My experience with the hunting community is that they welcome all supports in the fight against the anti-hunting activisim. They may, and often do, get snooty when it comes to fighting over who gets which share of the resources when setting season.