1-1     By:  Brown, Bernsen                                   S.C.R. No. 28
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 2, 2001; March 5, 2001, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
 1-4     March 26, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 26, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-7           WHEREAS, During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the
 1-8     harvesting of migratory game birds for subsequent resale, or
 1-9     "market hunting," was widespread, and this wasteful method led to
1-10     federal regulations to eliminate the practice in all 50 states; and
1-11           WHEREAS, One regulation adopted to curtail this practice
1-12     limits the number of shells a shotgun can hold to no more than
1-13     three and requires shotgun magazines to have a plug to effect the
1-14     three-shell limit; and
1-15           WHEREAS, In the ensuing years, additional regulations have
1-16     been enacted to protect migratory game birds, such as the current
1-17     federal and state daily or seasonal bag limits that regulate the
1-18     number of game birds that can be killed or possessed by a hunter,
1-19     making the three-shell limit and the magazine plug requirement
1-20     unnecessary and archaic; and
1-21           WHEREAS, Enforcing outdated regulations wastes limited law
1-22     enforcement resources that could be better utilized enforcing other
1-23     hunting laws, such as bag limits; and
1-24           WHEREAS, A game bird wounded by a third shot that cannot
1-25     subsequently be killed by a fourth shot suffers an inhumane death
1-26     and is a waste of game resources; and
1-27           WHEREAS, The greater frequency of loading a shotgun
1-28     necessitated by the three-shell limit creates a safety hazard for
1-29     the hunter; and
1-30           WHEREAS, Because migratory game birds can be protected by
1-31     other federal and state regulations, the enforcement of the
1-32     three-shell limit and magazine plug requirement is no longer
1-33     necessary and should be discontinued; now, therefore, be it
1-34           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
1-35     hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to
1-36     repeal the federal regulation relating to the three-shell limit and
1-37     the magazine plug requirement found in 50 C.F.R. Section 20.21;
1-38     and, be it further
1-39           RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
1-40     copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
1-41     the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of
1-42     the senate of the United States Congress, and to all members of the
1-43     Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
1-44     resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
1-45     memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.
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