Well, that didn’t take long.
Senate Bill 737 would allow for the use of semi-automatic rifles for the hunting of groundhogs and coyotes, though only outside of established seasons for white-tailed deer, bears and turkeys. It makes no mention of a magazine capacity or minimum or maximum caliber.
It was introduced by Sen. Scott Hutchinson of Butler County on April 16. The Senate game and fisheries committee didn’t look at it until June 16.
It’s moved fast since.
The committee approved it that day and sent it on to the full Senate. On June 23, it approved it unanimously, 49-0, and sent it to the House of Representatives.
It’s sitting in that body’s game and fisheries committee now.
If it passes there – and that committee recently held a hearing on two similar House bills, with lots of favorable comments – it could go the full House sooner rather than later.
It’s looking more and more like semiautomatic rifles might become a part of Pennsylvania’s hunting scene, doesn’t it?
Another bill that would legalize another type of gun is moving the other way.
House Bill 263, sponsored by Rep. Matt Gabler of Clearfield County, would remove the prohibition on hunting with air rifles, and allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to include them in seasons as it saw fit.
That bill passed the full House 196-0 on April 22 and, more recently, on June 16, passed the Senate game and fisheries committee. A full Senate vote is up next.
