After following along with this thread, and sometimes going back and re-reading what we have written, I think, in most cases, we are together.

I did not read a single post which advocated for a loss of 2nd Amendment rights. We struggled with our interpretations of the 2nd Amendment as is the case with many parts of the Constitution. It is the very ability of the document to continue to make itself applicable to changing times that is so remarkable. The Founding Fathers designed a government that will "long endure."

In my home state of Vermont, we have very libeal gun laws. There is never a day that I am not grateful for this and for our sporting tradition here. I do not fear losing 2nd Amendment rights as some of you do because they do not appear to be under attack in Vermont as much as they are in other states.

What I do fear is losing the space to pursue my sport. This is how my 2nd Amendment rights will be curtailed here in the Northeast. It is not by confiscation or by outlawing, but it will be by taking away those places where we can use firearms.

Yes, more homes are being built in Vermont all the time, and this in itself requires all of us to continue extreme vigilance with safe firearms handling. But the real problem facing hunters and users of firearms in Vermont is the closing of land by posting. Drive down any road in Vermont today and you will see yellow poster after yellow poster. Property with access from public roads is being sealed off at beyond an alarming rate. As a hunter, and someone who tries to be a sportsman, I know where a good deal of the blame for this lies, and it lies with me and my brethren.

I will give you a couple of examples, and I think you will quickly understand what I am trying to say. About a year ago, I believe it was in September, a man was shot while picking blackberries. The hunter thought he heard something in the berry bushes, and assuming it was a bear, he fired. He went to see what he had shot and discovered a man lying in the bushes very badyly wounded. The hunter left and never called for help. The next day, the hunter thought differently about what he had done, and told people about the incident. The man who had been picking berries was discovered later that day, dead.

Later that fall, a farmer decided he would like to watch a field on his farm in the afternoon, hoping maybe to see deer coming out in the latter part of the day, and maybe getting a chance at a buck. The farmer made the mistake of sitting in his own tractor while he watched the field. His tractor had an enclosed cab and this surely made the wait more comfortable, or at least it would seem so.

A group of young men came out of the woods at one end of the field and one of the young men decided to fire a shot at the tractor. The farmer was killed.

I think most of us are familiar with the tragedy that took place in Michigan, I believe between a group of hunters and a Vietnamese hunter. I appologize if I have the nationality of the (Vietnamese) hunter wrong. I think it was Humong, but I stand ready to be corrected. Anyway, this tragedy, and I am pretty sure that this time, "AR" type rifles were involved, if I remember correctly, continue to add to the general public's displeasure with hunting. I believe Larry Brown alluded to this in one of his replies.

We will probably survive attacks on the 2nd Amenment for some time, but what good will it do if we only have rifle and skeet ranges as places to pursue our sport. It is the closing of land that is the biggest threat we face.

This is why I so strongly urge all of us to be the best ambassadors we possibly can for our sports, and not to be content with our constitutional protection that we know enjoy.

Those of you with "AR" type weapons, I never wrote that these should be confiscated or outlawed. Many of you tried to frame this argument as one about "black plastic guns." I have seem plenty of Winchester and Remington bolt actions in the woods with black plastic stocks and rather modern looking barrels. I hope you noticed that no one wrote disparagingly about these guns so I think it is not just the black plastic that some of us object to.

Some of you tried to paint us as snobs, and elitists. I can assure you that I am a pretty humble person if you ever met me. Being a good Scot, I do own and enjoy a couple of "Harris" tweed jackets. They last forever and never go out of style. If you were to find me in the woods in the fall, you can usually recognize me because I wear red and black plaid, made here in Vermont at the Johnson Woolen Mills.

If you have had the patience to read along this far in my post, you have my thanks and appreciation. Someone, I believe, it was Mr. Jack Rabbit, wrote about how we need to "parse well" when we write on this board. Mr. Jack Rabbit, how right you are.

I hope I have offended none of you, at least that is my most sincere intention.

Enjoy our sport,

Best regards,

Ed Pirie
West Topsham, Vermont