Thirty or forty years ago, if someone tried to put a measure on the ballot to ban hunting, fishing, and animal farming, it wouldn’t have even made the local paper. It would have been laughed out of the room as an absurd joke.
But welcome to our modern “don’t call anybody an idiot” culture—where even the most unhinged ideas get treated like valid public policy.
Case in point: Oregon’s Initiative Petition 28 (IP 28).
The Narrow Escape
The Oregon Secretary of State’s office recently announced that IP 28 failed to make the November ballot. Why? Not because the political establishment suddenly found common sense, but because the campaign failed a basic technical review—they couldn’t produce enough valid signatures to meet the state threshold.
We got lucky. But “lucky” should make your stomach turn.
If it had made the ballot, who knows what would have happened once the urban, granola-eating voters in Portland and along the coast stepped into the voting booth?
A Disney-fied View of Nature
Think about what this initiative actually proposed. It sought to classify any intentional killing of an animal in Oregon—outside of self-defense—as a Class A misdemeanor. That meant:
No hunting.
No fishing.
No livestock ranching or processing.
No pest control.
Losing the right to hunt and fish is devastating enough for outdoor heritage and wildlife conservation. But imagine outlawing all animal farming. No beef, no poultry, no pork, no dairy processing, no rod and reel, no youth deer season.
In what world does this seem like a good idea? In my view, to the leftist, tofu-eating urban dwellers who have never spent a day on a farm, set a hook, or tracked game through the woods. It’s the product of a generation that views nature like a Disney movie and thinks animals are noble spirits wandering around waiting for a song, completely disconnected from the realities of food systems, ecology, and land management.
The Trial Balloon
Make no mistake: Oregon was a test case.
The activists behind this were throwing a trial balloon into the sky to see how far it would fly. They raised money, gathered over 100,000 signatures, and pushed state leadership into a panic. Even if it failed on a technicality this time, the template has been created. They will refine the language, gather more money, and try again—in Oregon or in your home state.
When Theory Hits Reality
It’s easy to flirt with big-government control and nanny-state ideology when it’s all purely academic. But ideology looks very different when it shows up on your doorstep to take away your job, your weekend pastimes, and your family’s food supply.
It’s the exact same dynamic as the “Defund the Police” movement. It sounded real progressive on social media—until the same folks had their cars broken into or homes burglarized, and suddenly they were begging for an officer on the street.
When bad ideas stop being abstract debate topics and start threatening your actual way of life, the illusion shatters real fast.
Time to Wake Up
This bad idea should have never seen the light of day, let alone come within striking distance of becoming state law.
Hunters, anglers, farmers, ranchers, and everyday consumers need to stop assuming common sense will always prevail. The opposition is organized, funded, and patient. If you care about traditional pastimes, working lands, and basic individual freedoms, it’s time to wake up, stay alert, and pay attention to what’s coming down the pipe next.
Common sense is not common. -Twain/Voltaire
Stuff like this is why I’m now a libertarian-leaning Independent instead of a Democrat. I’m learning to hunt small game, and I really enjoy it. I like the idea of being able to put my own food on the table (even if it’s only one or two meals a year). I love the autumn squirrel woods.
And it’s another example of how the goal post always moves. Step 1. “We only want to ban your scary black rifles! Not your hunting guns!” Step 2. “Okay, now hand over anything with more than 10 rounds.” Step 3: “Gimme that single shot .22, you fiend!”