Semiautomatics coming to Pennsylvania state's woods this year, but what's next?

Maybe you've heard Pennsylvania Game Commissioners approved hunting with semiautomatic rifles starting this fall for small game, predators and varmints but not for big game.

But have you heard why?

The people spoke. Namely, the older people.

They won't be around forever, so there's a good chance these rules won't be, either.

That's what commissioners seem to think, anyway.

Late last year, lawmakers removed the state's prohibition on hunting with semiautomatic rifles, opening the door for commissioners to incorporate them into seasons. Initially, board members said they'd go slowly, likely allowing them only in spots.

They changed direction in January.

Agency staff looked at the safety record of hunters using semiautomatics in other states, specifically those adjacent to Pennsylvania and those similar to it in terms of hunter densities. That work, commissioners said, showed semiautomatics are no more or less dangerous in the woods than any other type of firearm.

So they gave preliminary approval to allow semiautomatics for hunting all species, including big game such as deer, bears, turkeys and elk.

The majority of hunters contacting the commission since supported the idea.

As of this past week, about 850 people had written in support of the proposal, compared to 220 or so against, said Steve Smith, director of the commission's bureau of information and education.

A random survey of licensed hunters produced opposite results, though.

The commission sent a questionnaire to 4,000 adult hunters, residents and non-residents, who had a license last fall, said Coren Jagnow, chief of the commission's research and education division. Just more than 2,000 responded.

Fifty-five percent said they supported or strongly supported the notion of allowing semiautomatics for furbearers, she said, compared to 34 percent who opposed or strongly opposed it. Eleven percent had no opinion.

Fifty-one percent were OK with using them for groundhogs, compared to 37 percent against, and 42 percent supported them for small game compared to 46 percent against.

The real difference came with big game.

Jagnow said 28 percent of respondents supported or strongly supported allowing semiautos for big game hunting. But 64 percent opposed it, with 52 percent saying they were strongly opposed.

That convinced commissioners to back off.

“We listened to the public,” said commission president Brian Hoover of Delaware County.

“We saw the survey. We saw what the numbers were,” agreed commissioner Tim Layton of Somerset County. “It was pretty cut and dry at that point.”

So far, anyway.

As of now, the rules say semiautomatic rifles are legal for small game provided they are .22 caliber or smaller. They're allowed for groundhogs and furbearers with no caliber restriction.

There is no restriction on magazine capacity in any case.

Commissioners said they have no specific plans to reintroduce the idea of semiautomatic rifles for big game.

That's what some still want. The National Rifle Association this past week emailed members urging them to contact the commissioners, asking them to change their minds again at their June meeting.

But commissioners said they think semiautos may come to Pennsylvania big game seasons eventually. They noted their survey showed opposition to hunting big game with semiautomatics was strongly age-related.

“The older they get, the less likely they are to support it,” Jagnow agreed.

That hints at what's perhaps to come, Layton said.

Some hunters surely will use semiautomatics for small game, coyotes and groundhogs, he said. If they do so safely, “that might be the bridge to using them for big game as people get more comfortable with them.”

“I don't think the semiauto question is going to go away,” Layton said. “I think it's going to be in the forefront for a while because our younger hunters, they're used to that format of rifle. They're going to continue to request it.”

They've got some work to do, Daley said.

Commissioners themselves largely were opposed to semiautos for big game initially, he said. They changed their minds after coming to understand their safety record and other benefits, he added.

Some other hunters haven't had that same “awakening,” though.

He suggested proponents of semiautos need to educate their fellow hunters so that they get on board.

“There are a lot of benefits to them. But a lot of hunters don't understand that yet,” Daley said. “And if they don't understand it, we're not going to force it down their throats.”

Bob Frye is the Tribune-Review outdoors editor. Reach him at 412-216-0193 or bfrye@tribweb.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

Semi-automatic Bill Advances Beyond Pennsyvania Lawmakers

By John Hayes / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

Weeks before the opening of Pennsylvania’s statewide firearm deer season, and hours before the close of the state’s 2016 legislative session, a bill that would legalize the use of semi-automatic sporting arms for hunting has moved to the desk of Gov. Tom Wolf.

The General Assembly has debated the issue since at least 2013. It was brought up again in 2015 by State Rep. Matt Gabler, R-Clearfield/Elk, a member of the House Game and Fisheries Committee and Pennsylvania Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, with the support of a half dozen other Caucus members. On Oct. 26 the Senate version rocked the State Capitol building with a vote of 40-7 in favor, and the next day the House lined up 160-25 to approve HB 263.

Unlike rapid-fire machine guns, or automatic weapons, the shooter of a semi-automatic has to pull the trigger once for each individual shot. Unlike bolt-, lever- and pump-action guns, which require the shooter to manually move each cartridge into the chamber, semi’s do it with compressed air or gas. Hunters in 48 states, including Pennsylvania neighbors Ohio, New York, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia, legally use semi-automatic rifles.

The bill would amend the Title 34 Game and Wildlife Code, which specifically prohibits the state Game Commission from allowing air- or gas-powered rifles and handguns for hunting. The agency supports the bill, but if passed the legislation would not immediately and directly permit their use. It would give PGC the authority to regulate their use..

Semi-automatic shotguns are legal sporting arms in Pennsylvania, but they have to be plugged to a three-shell total in the chamber and magazine. Semi rifles and pistols are legal for target shooting and self-defense. 

“The inspiration for House Bill 263 came from an Elk County citizen who showed me how advancements in technology associated with these air-, chemical- and gas cylinder-powered rifles made them viable, humane options for use in hunting applications,” said Rep. Gabler, in a statement. “... Experience in other states has shown air- and gas-powered rifles to be especially popular among young hunters, women and new participants in the sport.”

Semi-automatic firearms have been a hot topic this election year. In February, Gov. Wolf joined the Washington, D.C.-based Governors Sportsmen’s Caucus, a bipartisan information exchange that promotes and advances hunting, fishing, recreational shooting and trapping.

Lawmakers Debate Use Of Semiautomatic Rifles For Hunting In Pennsylvania

By Bob Frye

 

There's only one state left in the nation that does not permit hunters to use semiautomatic rifles in the field: Pennsylvania.

 

There was talk Monday of changing that.

 

The House of Representatives game and fisheries committee held a hearing in Harrisburg on two bills that would legalize that style of gun.

 

One, House Bill 233, sponsored by Rep. Curtis Sonney of Erie County, would legalize semiautomatic rifles of .223 or smaller caliber, with a six-shot capacity, for hunting coyotes, foxes and groundhogs. The other, House Bill 366, sponsored by Allegheny County lawmaker Rick Saccone, would limit centerfire semiautomatics to containing five rounds but makes no mention of caliber or species.

 

“That's the beauty of it,” Saccone told fellow lawmakers.

 

Under his bill, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which makes the rules regarding firearm type, seasons and species for all other weapons, would make those same decisions in regards to semiautomatics, he said.

 

It has the support of the National Rifle Association and others.

 

Matt Hough, executive director of the commission, told lawmakers the commission supports legalizing semiautomatics. It doesn't necessarily prefer one bill to the other, he added.

 

It does want a say, though. The commission would like the authority to decide which species could be hunted with semiautomatics and when, limit the guns to having six rounds in the magazine and chamber, combined, and prohibit their use for any species during overlaps with deer, bear, turkey or elk seasons.

“As long as we can regulate, we're fine,” Hough said.

 

Representatives of sportsmen's groups were split.

 

Kim Stolfer, of McDonald, a certified firearms instructor representing the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League and other organizations, said he prefers Saccone's bill, as did Randy Santucci of McKees Rocks, president of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania.

 

Stolfer said semiautomatics are becoming “more and more accepted in hunting camps” across the country, for multiple reasons. They are no more or less dangerous than any other type of firearm, he said, but do reduce felt recoil and muzzle jump and allow a hunter to remain on target when making follow-up shots at game. That has been recognized elsewhere for decades, he added.

 

“It's just been a long tradition in many other states,” Stolfer said.

 

Santucci pointed out that semiautomatics are not new to Pennsylvania. Hunters in special- regulations areas — the most heavily-populated parts of the state, surrounding Pittsburgh and Philadelphia — can use semiautomatic shotguns to hunt deer, while hunters statewide can use them to hunt turkeys, waterfowl and small game, he said.

 

Legalizing their use would give hunters the same “rights and respect” their counterparts get nationally, Santucci added.

 

John Kline, representing the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs, said that group's delegates debated the semiauto issue at their spring convention and found no evidence they are unsafe or lead to inappropriate uses by sportsmen, Kline said. They didn't all agree on which particular bill to support, though.

 

A majority favored Bill 233 because it represents an “incremental approach,” Kline said, but others preferred Bill 366, while still others didn't like either, feeling they intruded on the Game Commission's sole authority to make the rules regarding calibers, magazine capacities and seasons, he said.

 

If any bill passes, there will be “perceptions” to overcome, Hough said, such as the safety concerns that have prompted some landowners to suggest they'll post their property against hunting before allowing semiautomatic rifles on it.

 

“We have to educate them,” Rep. Dan Moul of Adams County told him. “That's your job.”

 

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors.