Focus: Bernie Sanders, gun control and hunting - Dec 11, 2015

I urge Bernie Sanders to stop talking about hunting in the framework of his gun control plan. He comes from rural Vermont where hunting is common. He says, "In Vermont, New Hampshire and all over this country we have a lot of people who hunt. I support people's rights to hunt, it's part of our cultural heritage. But people do not go hunting with assault weapons.” He adds, "I can understand if some Democrats or Republicans represent an urban area where people don't hunt, don't do target practice, they're not into guns. But in my state, people go hunting and do target practice.” He could just avoid this reference to hunting altogether while talking about gun control. Video of Sanders speech which calls for gun safety legislation after the San Bernardino massacre and does not mention hunting. 

Hunting hurts of the feelings animal rights supporters and in general of pet owners who amount to great numbers. Besides the ethical question of killing animals for recreation, it is also politically convenient not to alienate these voters. According to a poll, more than three in five Americans (62%) have at least one pet in their household, with ownership highest among the two youngest generations tested (65% among Millennials, 71% among Gen X). What's more, 95% of pet owners consider their pets to be members of the family. In addition growing percentages of pet owners frequently or occasionally buy birthday presents for their pets (45%) and cook for them (31%), let their pets sleep in bed with them (71%) and buy them holiday presents (64%).

Animal rights is now a mainstream movement like civil and human rights, environmentalism, feminism, etc. This is an article by Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals): Why Sport Hunting Is Cruel and Unnecessary.

To contact Bartolo email peaceloverblog[at]yahoo[dot]com (replacing [at] with @, [dot] with .)