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the three-shell limit and the magazine plug requirement 1-20 unnecessary and archaic; and 1-21 WHEREAS, Enforcing outdated regulations wastes limited law 1-22 enforcement resources that could be better utilized enforcing other 1-23 hunting laws, such as bag limits; and 1-24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. 1-46 * * * * *