SUNDAY HUNTING BAN IN COURT - ACLU Says Individual And Property Rights Violated

(02/19/2004)

The American Civil Liberties Union is moving ahead with a lawsuit against the Ritchie County Commission to permanently block the commission from enforcing a ban against Sunday hunting on private lands. The ACLU sees the ban as a violation of individual and property rights. Sunday hunting has been banned by citizen vote in most of West Virginia's 55 counties. The lawsuit is styled "Hartley Hill Hunt Club et al v. Ritchie County Commission." It was filed on behalf of hunt club members, who leases 2,034 acres of private property for hunting purposes. The ACLU says the law infringes not only on basic state constitutional right, but also violates the spirit of West Virginia liberty, said Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of WV's branch. "Our state motto may say 'Mountaineer's are always Free,' but the Sunday hunting ban says we are free only on Monday through Saturday," he said. The lawsuit claims the ban is depriving individuals of their desired use of their property for one full day out of the week, throughout all the hunting seasons. The state constitution provides for the right to bear arms for the purpose of "lawful hunting and recreational use," says the suit. "Our clients will establish that the Sunday hunting prohibition is an unconstitutional restriction on well-organized, cultural, historical and constitutionally protected right for the use and enjoyment of property through hunting," according to Jason Huber, a cooperating attorney for the ACLU. The case will likely rise to the state's Supreme Court.

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