Batesville Panolian
Hyde-Smith, Wicker praised for hunting, fishing support
By James L. Cummins
Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) entered into settlement negotiations with activist organizations over a lawsuit regarding the use of traditional ammunition and tackle on over three million acres of federal land.
Mississippi’s two U.S. Senators, Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, recently joined 21 Senators to advance legislation to prohibit the FWS from banning the use of traditional lead ammunition or tackle on public lands.
The Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act of 2022 (Senate Bill 4940) would stop the FWS, U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management from imposing such bans unless such an action is supported by science and state wildlife and fisheries agencies, like the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.
This legislation that Senators Hyde-Smith and Wicker have co-sponsored is grounded in science, a key to managing fish and wildlife, it enables hunting and angling to continue to thrive, and takes into account the needs of ordinary people from my state of Mississippi to Montana.
“Attempts to ban traditional ammunition and fishing tackle was a bad idea in the Obama years and later in the Green New Deal. It remains a flawed and scientifically unjustified notion under the administration,” Hyde-Smith said. “Hunting and fishing is a way of life for many Mississippians and an economic staple in our state and across the country. Renewed efforts to ban traditional ammo must be stopped, which is what this bill will do.”