As of June 1, all eyes are on Oregon as hunters across the country watch things develop. Initiative Petition 28 (IP28), also known as the PEACE Act, officially hit 125,000 signatures, exceeding the 117,173 required to get on the ballot before the July 2 deadline. The PEACE Act aims to place hunting, fishing, trapping and farming under Oregon’s animal abuse statutes, effectively banning these practices.
According to BallotPedia’s historical data, an average of about 78% of submitted signatures are validated toward the count, with the remaining percentage rejected as invalid for one reason or another. This is a small piece of positive news, as those pushing the PEACE Act will need to continue their campaign to ensure it makes it to the November ballot.
While many will be sitting on pins and needles waiting for the July 2 deadline, it may be time to start being proactive and raising awareness of this bold new threat. In this current political climate, hunters can’t afford to dismiss this by saying “that will never pass.” As of today, it’s a real possibility. They have the signatures — pending validation — and the initiative still has nearly a month to gather more, meaning they could clear the threshold even factoring insignature rejections.
Going forward, hunters need to come together and determine a clear strategy for combating this new tactic of eliminating hunting via the ballot box. If the hunting community continues to shrug off these threats as only noise in the conversation about the right to hunt, it could lead to an eventual downfall. In the current political climate, with hunters being a minority group in the vast voter pool, taking this fight to the ballot box could potentially be fatal.
Hunters within states that do not explicitly cite hunting as a right in their state constitution should consider engaging their state representatives to insulate themselves from this growing threat. Another great way to stay informed and involved is to join Bowhunters United for free, where we come together as bowhunters to form one voice advocating for and defending our right to bowhunt.
