NEWTOWN, Conn –-(Ammoland.com)- A superior court judge refused to issue a temporary injunction to stop Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife officials from publicly opposing bear-hunting restrictions.
Cumberland County Judge Joyce Wheeler ruled that Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting had failed to demonstrate that the department’s opposition to a Nov. 4 ballot question caused “irreparable injury,” and that department employees’ speech is protected under the First Amendment. The referendum question asks if hunters in Maine should be banned from using bait, traps and dogs to hunt black bears.
The same proposal was rejected by Maine voters in 2004 by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent.
The coalition behind the ballot question is funded by the anti-hunting Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
About NSSFThe National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of more than 6,000 manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers. For more information, log on to www.nssf.org.