So I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit last week at one of our local legislator’s latest efforts at making something happen in state government.

Sen. Melanie Sojourner, R-Natchez, has submitted a number of bills for consideration by the Mississippi Legislature this session.

But a few, in particular, struck me as amusing.

First, for apparently no reason that I can tell, she wants to simply abolish the requirement for people who want to hunt and fish to purchase a license from the state.

She claims the move would only cost the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks less than $600,000 each year.

The MDWFP’s own annual audit indicates the agency hauls in more than $15 million in fees, permits and registrations. The audit doesn’t break down the costs in great detail, however.

Regardless of the exact amount, Sojourner’s proposed law is pretty thin on solving a specific problem.

Of all of the myriad of departments in state government that likely need some trimming and cleaning up, let’s start with the biggest ones first. The MDWFP is a pretty small agency compared to transportation, education or corrections.

Sojourner claims that since we recognize hunting and fishing as a God-given right, then the state should have no right to charge a fee for hunting.

Maybe I simply drank the proverbial Kool-Aid that my own father and others gave me when I was young, but I always thought hunting and fishing licenses helped pay for the state’s own conservation and wildlife enforcement plans.

That doesn’t seem like a bad thing, and it certainly doesn’t seem to infringe upon anyone’s God-given rights.

My reading of the Bible says we — i.e. humans — are supposed to watch over and keep the animals of the earth. My take on that is that they’re God’s creatures, not ours, we’re simply supposed to look after them, and we’re allowed to use them for our own sustenance. The fact that we have a concerted, government-based effort to protect and preserve the animals in our state isn’t a bad thing; it’s a good thing. Paying a fee to help maintain that system isn’t going against anyone’s God-given right.

Besides without licensing and enforcement of laws, can you imagine the number of yokels who would go out and simply slaughter animals for the fun of it?

I can only imagine what’s coming next from people who think like Sojourner.

“Let’s do away with all state taxes and just shut down the government.”

“Why do we need to pay for car tags and inspection stickers?”

“Hey, come to think of it,” they might continue, “Why do I have to pay the state for a driver’s license and liability insurance? Who are you to tell me what I do and don’t have to insure?”

Such thinking can quickly spiral.

“Federal law, schmederal law,” she might say. “The federal government can’t make me do anything.”

“If I want to shoot a bald eagle with an assault rifle, throw it in the back of my untaxed truck and drive it back to my house, no one can stop me.”

Of course I’m being a bit facetious, but the baseless suggestion that a seemingly harmless state government practice simply be chunked without providing a good reason just doesn’t fly well.

It seems like some of our legislators simply dream up bills without thinking through the potential consequences.

I still contend the best thing Mississippi’s Legislature could do is simply approve budgets two years at a time and not meet each year.

Perhaps then the silliness of some of these proposed laws would go away. Or, at the least, we’d only be forced to hear about them — and realize we’re paying lawmakers good money to create such nonsense — a little less often.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.