Proposed Hunting of Mountain Lions
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State Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Rohnert Park) refers to the proposed California mountain lion hunt as a sport (Letters, Feb. 15).
Most sporting events worthy of the name provide for approximately equal weapons and rules for both sides in the contest, and a reasonable chance that either side might win.
How many would consider it “sporting” for the New York Giants to line up for a game against some high school football team? Yet the parallel to that occurs when in the name of “sport” we permit a guy with a high-powered rifle to line up against a dumb animal.
I agree that anyone who wants to own a rifle and use it to hunt animals, for whatever reason, should be permitted to do so. But I do object to the continuing prostitution of our language by referring to killing animals with a rifle as “sport.” It’s no such thing! Neither should we refer to hunting rifles as “sporting goods”.
Where did we go wrong?
JOE McARDLE
Carlsbad
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