Do game wardens carry guns




















The North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association says about 70 wildlife officers in the United States have died in the line of duty since , more than a dozen of them from accidental or malicious killings. Often, game wardens are "encountering folks out to intentionally break the law with firearms.

In , Texas game warden Justin Hurst, 34, was fatally shot with an assault rifle while pursuing a man suspected of illegally hunting from the road. In , Alabama game warden Jimmy Hutto was shot while assisting drug task forces investigating a methamphetamine operation and died weeks later.

This past February, the killer of Florida wildlife officer Margaret "Peggy" Park in was executed. Park was shot with her own gun by a burglar on probation as she patrolled a wooded area. In March, a year-old federal wildlife officer, Chris Upton, was shot and killed when a Georgia hunter mistook him for a coyote.

For much of the year, a wildlife officer deals with complaints about nuisance animals including bears, raccoons and skunks. In the fall hunting season, the work changes to monitoring for illegal hunting. Backup could be an hour or more away, and in some cases meant getting out of bed in the middle of the night when a farmer called to say he'd seen someone hunting illegally, Bower recalled.

In Grove's case, he called in the license plate number of the suspect, Christopher L. Johnson, before the shooting, police said. That gave them a critical piece of information. Authorities say Grove had Johnson, 27, partially handcuffed before the shooting. The suspect told police he fled with the handcuffs locked on his left wrist and shot them off himself, according to a police affidavit. When connecting your batteries in Series you are doubling the voltage while maintaining the same capacity rating amp hours.

This might be used in a scooter, Power Wheels kids vehicle, or other applications. Just use a jumper wire between the negative of the first battery and the positive of the second battery. Connecting batteries in series increases voltage, but does not increase overall amp-hour capacity. All batteries in a series bank must have the same amp-hour rating.

Connecting batteries in parallel increases total current capacity by decreasing total resistance, and it also increases overall amp-hour capacity. The current will only increase if the voltage applied is AC, and the capacitor is in parallel with the load. This is because a capacitor blocks DC voltage and only passes AC because it is being repeatedly charged and discharged by the varying AC signal. Similarly, when the voltage decreases in a step-down transformer , the current increases proportionately.

Thus, if the voltage is cut in half, the current doubles. In other words, power equals voltage times current. A transformer transfers power from the primary coil to the secondary coil. So if the voltage increases , then the current increases provided that the resistance remains constant. In other words, if we increase the voltage, then the current will increase. But, if we increase the resistance , then the current will decrease.

Hidden Canyon Hunter Knife. Get the latest in your inbox. Subscribe to our newsletters to receive regular emails with hand-picked content, gear recommendations, and special deals. The MeatEater Newsletter. Wired To Hunt Weekly. Fishing Weekly. First Lite. FHF Gear.

Phelps Game Calls. Illinois and Massachusetts require a license to own a firearm. But Jim Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners Action League in Massachusetts, said he thinks the strict gun laws in the state have kept people with criminal convictions from hunting. In Maine, there is no check to confirm people can possess a gun when they apply for a hunting license, but they have to disclose whether they are a convicted felon.

If they lie, they could face charges of unsworn falsification and fraudulently obtaining a license. Details from a Pennsylvania Game Commission operation showed felons continued to hunt with firearms. Operation Talon, a nighttime operation to stop poaching, was first held during the weekends of Oct. During those three weekends, two felons were caught possessing firearms. In , no felons possessing firearms were caught during Operation Talon. The process of identifying and prosecuting a convicted felon hunting with a firearm is complicated.

Full-time game wardens have the legal authority to charge someone for any crime, including specific wildlife laws. However, Raup said most stops begin with some kind of violation. Raup said this happens but is somewhat infrequent. A game warden will put a felon under arrest for hunting with a firearm. The agency has no legal authority to do background checks at the beginning of a hunting license sale, according to Raup.

Only Game and Wildlife Code violations can result in license suspension or revocation. Hunting with an illegally possessed firearm can lead to years in prison. I do think there is an important responsibility we have as a state to ensure we are fairly applying the law.

The work game wardens do can be dangerous. Gillespie said he liked the idea of background checks to get hunting licenses and wanted to explore it with the Game Commission.

But Raup sees potential problems with that idea. Raup said denying hunting licenses to these people would also deny them access to legal hunting activities. He is a year-old hunter, the vice president of Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania and a former state game commissioner. They would end up having to wait longer for hunting licenses and pay more for the licenses, he said.



0コメント

  • 1000 / 1000