SRC-SEW S.C.R. 28 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research Center S.C.R. 28 77R8393 MTD-DBy: Brown, J. E. "Buster" Natural Resources 3/21/2001 As Filed DIGEST During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the harvesting of migratory game birds for subsequent resale, or "market hunting," was widespread, and this method led to federal regulation to eliminate the practice in all 50 states. One regulation adopted to curtail this practice limits the number of shells a shotgun can hold to no more than three and requires shotgun magazine to have a plug to effect the three-shell limit. In the ensuing years, additional regulations have been enacted to protect migratory game birds, such as the current federal and state daily or seasonal bag limits that regulate the number of game birds that can be killed or possessed by a hunter, making the three-shell limit magazine plug requirement unnecessary and archaic. Enforcing outdated regulations wastes limited law enforcement resources that could be better utilized enforcing other hunting laws, such as bag limits; a game bird wounded by a third shot that cannot subsequently be killed by a fourth shot suffers an inhumane death and is a waste of game resources; and the greater frequency of loading a shotgun necessitated by the three-shell limit creates a safety hazard for the hunter. Because migratory game birds can be protected by other federal and state regulations, the enforcement of the three-shell limit and magazine plug requirement is no longer necessary and should be discontinued. PURPOSE As proposed, S.C.R. 28 submits the following resolutions: Provides that the 77th Texas Legislature respectfully urges the United States Congress to repeal the federal regulation relating to the three-shell limit and the magazine plug requirement found in 50 C.F.R. Section 20.21. Provides that the Texas secretary of state is to forward official copies of this resolution to certain parties with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a memorial to the United States Congress.