Tell NY State to Delete the Legalization of Crossbows in Proposed 2014-15 Budget
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org

FROM

League of Humane Voters - New York (LOHV)
March 2014

ACTION

LOHV suggests that all residents interested in a safe New York contact the leaders of both the NYS Assembly and Senate, as well as their own state representatives and urge them to amend Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget bill by deleting section I. 

Governor Cuomo has submitted his “2014-15 New York State Executive Budget” to the New York State Legislature. As part of his proposed budget bill, Governor Cuomo has attached several items that affect Environmental Conservation Law.
 
One of Governor Cuomo's proposed major changes to Environmental Conservation Law demands serious reconsideration in light of the dangerous activities that that would be newly permitted by this proposed bill: to license the use of crossbows during archery season.

Governor Cuomo
[email protected]

Senator pro temp Skelos
[email protected]

Senator pro temp Klein
[email protected]

Speaker Silver
[email protected]

Find and contact your New York Assembly Representatives:
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=search

Find and contact your New York State Senators:
http://www.nysenate.gov/

INFORMATION / TALKING POINTS

Crossbows are short-range lethal weapons from which the projectile is released by squeezing a trigger, rather than by manually releasing the string as with a longbow.  They are in effect guns that shoot powerful arrows.
 
Crossbows require much less skill and experience than longbows -- therefore they are primarily attractive to inexperienced hunters including children .
 
Hunting with a crossbow is currently illegal in New York. Under this proposed law, children as young as twelve years old could be licensed to hunt deer and bears with crossbows. Inexperienced hunters are not able to effectively track and dispatch wounded animals. Among longbow hunters, the crippling rate is 50% (animals hit but never recovered); with inexperienced children participating in crossbow hunting that crippling rate is certain to increase sharply.
 
Of further concern is that inexperienced hunters are much more likely to cause injuries to other hunters, hikers, boaters, farmers, residents, companion animals, and children in the area.  Increased accessibility of these weapons through stores such as Wal-Mart could result in their use in crimes, especially as they are silent.
 
In Ohio, where hunting with crossbows is now legal, a father shot his 14 year old son in the chest killing him.
 
The bill further lowers the current 500 foot distance from a home or occupied structure to 150 feet.  Reducing the range to 150 feet will most certainly increase human fatalities and injuries attributable to hunting accidents.
 
Both of those proposed changes, the new use of crossbows and the reduction of the distance from homes  increase the danger to people and increase the crippling rate of wildlife.
 
LOHV suggests that all residents interested in a safe New York contact the leaders of both the NYS Assembly and Senate, as well as their own state representatives and urge them to amend Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget bill by deleting section I.

Thank you for everything you do for animals!

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