Killing for the hell of it
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1994:
A federal anti-hunter harassment statute
tucked into the Crime Bill is likely to stay there––and
pass––as the Clinton administration strives to get
around National Rifle Association opposition to the
Crime Bill as a whole, which would ban 19 types of
assault rifle. The NRA on August 10 claimed credit
for temporarily defeating the Crime Bill on a proce-
dural vote in the House of Representatives.
The Senate version of the California
Desert Protection Act, passed in April, would cre-
ate an East Mojave National Park between the Joshua
Tree and Death Valley National Monuments, which
are to be upgraded to National Park status––meaning
a ban on hunting. However, in a move of symbolic
import to the NRA, the House version passed on July
27 downgrades East Mojave to the status of a
National Preserve, to allow hunting. National Park
Service director Roger Kennedy pointed out that
because preserves require more staff than parks, the
House version will cost $500,000 more per year to
run. Since hunters kill an average of only 26 deer and
five bighorn sheep per year in East Mojave, Kennedy
said, this amounts to “a subsidy of $20,000 per deer.”
A House/Senate conference committee must reconcile
the conflicting versions before the bill goes back to
both the Senate and House for final passage.