McAuliffe Says He will Sign Sunday Hunting Bill

Yesterday, the Virginia Senate passed the House bill allowing hunting on private property on Sunday.  The News and Advance reports that a spokesman for Governor Terry McAuliffe said the Governor will sign the bill.  This is good news and a change of position as reported by the Free Lance Star earlier this year:

The last two governors said they supported Sunday hunting on private land, but candidate McAuliffe stated in our interview with him last October that he favored the status quo. Sources, though, say a veto would be unlikely.

The news of the bill's passage cheered the pro-Sunday hunting folks who have been working on this for years, but really stepped up their lobbying this year.  This victory was achieved when they were able to get the bill assigned to the House Agriculture Committee instead of the killing field of the subcommittee that had deep-sixed the bill the last several years.  The News and Advance caught of with one hunter that will be impacted by the bill and he sounded happy about the vote:

The vote cheered hunters in the Roanoke Valley, including Daniel Hartman, 16, an avid baseball player who was looking at guncleaning supplies at Roanoke’s Sportsman’s Warehouse on Tuesday evening with his father. 

“Once I started playing travel ball, I noticed I wasn’t getting much hunting time,” said Daniel, who lives in Roanoke County and does much of his hunting on family land.

There is possibly another benefit this new law will have not only for hunters, but all Virginians, courtesy of Mark Holmberg at CBS6 back in November..