A Good Bill To Reduce Government Overregulation

NEWS. December 20, 2024, from Little Rock but written in Phoenix, Arizona.

Senator Boyd and Representative Beaty have proposed a bill to repeal the crime of Negilgent Discharge of Firearms While Hunting Deer.  There was a legislative finding in the statute-to-be-repealed in which they found that hunters were not using due care when ascertaining their targets.  Failure to do so could be criminally negligent and result in up to 6 months in county jail and/or a fine.

Repeal would remove this bill entirely.

ANALYSIS. This is a good bill because it cuts government power where that power is not needed.  That’s because there is already a better law on the books called “negligent homicide.”  That statute has a body of well developed case law that emphasized a conflict between this statute and due process.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has already held that negligence in a criminal homicide content requires something more than simple negligence like you might find in a civil car wreck case.  It has to be negligence and speeding, negligence and drinking, negligence and texting, etc.

Most people who have the heightened mental state are charged under the negligent homicide statute.  This is an unused statute and one that does not reflect what the law actually does.

Let’s hope it passes.

Clinton W. Lancaster

Attorney. America First. Sued Hunter Biden for child support. Represented President Trump in the 2020 Wisconsin election challenge. Former attorney for the Wisconsin Special Counsel. An official “Tough Cookie” per President Trump.