(NEXSTAR) – Ohio residents could have the chance to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right in the state next year, a move roughly half the country has already made.
The resolution, which needs to pass through both chambers of the legislature before appearing on the ballot next November, closely mirrors the language of similar legislative actions taken by other states, Nexstar’s WCMH reports. It calls the “right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife…a valued part of Ohio’s heritage” and says hunting and fishing will be used as “preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife in this state.”
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It was Vermont that did it first in the late 1700s, giving residents the right to “hunt, fish and trap on open, private land,” the state’s fish and wildlife department explains. All other states to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right have done so since 1996, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Most recently, it was Florida that took action. Last year, voters in the state enshrined the right by a margin of more than 3.3 million votes. The amendment also makes it more difficult for Florida’s lawmakers to ban or restrict hunting and fishing in the state…