Among the many ballot measures that Colorado voters will be presented with in the upcoming midterm election in November, one controversial vote is Amendment 83, also known as the Right to Hunt and Fish Amendment.
If the amendment were passed into law, a constitutional right would be permanently enshrined to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife through traditional means.
However, the constitutional amendment would exclude hunting endangered species, nongame species, and species that are illegal to hunt, per federal law. The initiative would also reinforce state economic stability, as the outdoor sporting industry in Colorado generates billions of dollars each year.
Hunting and fishing would become secured rights in Colorado and maintain Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s full scientific power to set seasons, bag limits, and other rules.
Proponents argue that the measure would defend essential aspects of Colorado’s legacy, and that threats from anti-hunting or fishing groups place these practices at risk of changing drastically. Establishing a constitutional amendment to hunt and fish would place existing protections at the uppermost level of state law, giving these sports unalterable safeguards.
Numerous opponents of the initiative believe it would be an unnecessary addition to the state constitution, as hunting and fishing are already legal practices under existing state laws.
Some Front Range Community College students were not completely informed of the implications of Amendment 83. However, after providing some context, students who were interviewed about the measure expressed opposition to it.
Mason Danielson, a student at FRCC’s Westminster Campus, said that the measure, if passed, would allow for “Overhunting [and] overfishing. It makes it easier for people to abuse the hunting system”.
Fellow FRCC student Allen Wink said that “there needs to be regulations in hunting. [Amendment 83] can harm wildlife in the long run. [There] would probably be long-term effects on the environment, because there [are] ecosystems, and if we influence [those ecosystems] artificially, it just disturbs the balance.”
Colorado voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to add the right to hunt and fish to the state constitution.