By Cook H.C.R. No. 205 77R8393 MTD-D HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the 1-2 harvesting of migratory game birds for subsequent resale, or 1-3 "market hunting," was widespread, and this wasteful method led to 1-4 federal regulations to eliminate the practice in all 50 states; and 1-5 WHEREAS, One regulation adopted to curtail this practice 1-6 limits the number of shells a shotgun can hold to no more than 1-7 three and requires shotgun magazines to have a plug to effect the 1-8 three-shell limit; and 1-9 WHEREAS, In the ensuing years, additional regulations have 1-10 been enacted to protect migratory game birds, such as the current 1-11 federal and state daily or seasonal bag limits that regulate the 1-12 number of game birds that can be killed or possessed by a hunter, 1-13 making the three-shell limit and the magazine plug requirement 1-14 unnecessary and archaic; and 1-15 WHEREAS, Enforcing outdated regulations wastes limited law 1-16 enforcement resources that could be better utilized enforcing other 1-17 hunting laws, such as bag limits; and 1-18 WHEREAS, A game bird wounded by a third shot that cannot 1-19 subsequently be killed by a fourth shot suffers an inhumane death 1-20 and is a waste of game resources; and 1-21 WHEREAS, The greater frequency of loading a shotgun 1-22 necessitated by the three-shell limit creates a safety hazard for 1-23 the hunter; and 1-24 WHEREAS, Because migratory game birds can be protected by 2-1 other federal and state regulations, the enforcement of the 2-2 three-shell limit and magazine plug requirement is no longer 2-3 necessary and should be discontinued; now, therefore, be it 2-4 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-5 hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 2-6 repeal the federal regulation relating to the three-shell limit and 2-7 the magazine plug requirement found in 50 C.F.R. Section 20.21; 2-8 and, be it further 2-9 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 2-10 copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 2-11 the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of 2-12 the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the 2-13 Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 2-14 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 2-15 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.