Felons forbidden guns getting hunting licenses

Felons forbidden guns getting hunting licenses
By Matt Gouras
Associated Press — Jan. 31, 2006

HELENA, Mont. — Hundreds of people barred from having guns because
they are felons on parole or probation are still able to get hunting
licenses in Montana with no questions asked, an Associated Press
investigation found.

Montana may not be alone. While nearly all states ban felons from
possessing guns, only a handful — including Rhode Island and Maine —
keep them from receiving hunting permits, and just a few others — such
as Illinois and Massachusetts — require hunters to show both a hunting
license and a firearms license.

"Our license dealers have no way of checking," said Lt. Rich Mann,
with the enforcement program for the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife. "If someone wants to play with the system and beat you at
it, they will."

The AP examination of Montana hunting and corrections records shows at
least 660 felons on parole or probation received tags in the past
year. The findings are based on a comparison of unique first, middle
and last names, along with other identifiable information, that
appeared in databases of both hunters and felons.

A state probation official said the findings likely would prompt the
state to consider its own records search to see if parolees are
violating terms of their release.

"Obviously that's a big concern, and it makes me want to look into
each of these cases," said Ron Alsbury, Montana's probation and parole
bureau chief.

The licenses don't specifically require the use of firearms to hunt,
and state officials note that most felons could legally hunt using
other weapons, such as bows. Several people contacted by the AP said
they hunted legally with bows while on probation.

However, bows are hardly the weapon of choice for some of the game for
which felons were issued tags, such as birds or bison.

Jason Beaudoin of Frenchtown, on probation for a 2002 conviction for
assault with a deadly weapon, got a series of hunting tags last year,
but said he used only a bow and arrow.

"I know I can't own a firearm or be in possession of one. They made
that very clear ... and I agree with the policy," Beaudoin said.

"There are plenty of ways people can hunt even though they are barred
from using conventional weapons," added Gary S. Marbut, president of
the Montana Shooting Sports Association. "My guess is that there are a
lot of them that are being perfectly decent citizens."

The problem is, no one knows for certain.

Some states, including Montana, check for hunting violations as a
routine part of a hunting license application, but don't run spot
checks to see if convicted felons are among those applying for
licenses or if they plan to use firearms.

"The result in Idaho is that you could theoretically be a convicted
cannibal and still have a hunting license," said Ed Mitchell, a
spokesman for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in Boise. "But if
you are a convicted cannibal, you cannot legally own a bent BB gun in
the state of Idaho."

With millions of hunters in the U.S. — nearly 270,000 in Montana alone
— authorities in many states say it simply would be too difficult to
check if felons are getting hunting tags.

North Dakota,officials make sure hunters aren't delinquent on their
child support, and deny permits to those who are, but they don't check
for felony convictions.

Colorado, like most states, relies on its law banning felons from
possessing guns to discourage them from applying for hunting licenses.
Still, every year game wardens find someone with a felony conviction
hunting with a firearm and a legally obtained hunting license, said
Bob Thompson, assistant chief of law enforcement for the Colorado
Division of Wildlife.

Florida officials said one of their game officers was killed by a
felon who was hunting with a gun.

The AP review found that roughly 8 percent of 8,732 people on parole
or probation in Montana had obtained hunting licenses in the past year.

Many hunters with felony convictions had no listed phone numbers,
while others did not return calls seeking comment.

In rare cases the state even gave hunting licenses to felons who
didn't ask for them.

One convicted felon contacted by the AP, Larry Pettijohn, wasn't aware
he held a bird hunting license. The state gave it to him for free
because he qualified for it as a senior citizen who had purchased a
state conservation license, the base permit for both hunters and anglers.

"All I ever do is fish," said Pettijohn, of Missoula, on parole for
felony drunken driving and being a persistent felon. "I don't have a
gun. Not allowed to."

One case made national news late last year when one of the hunters
with a prized tag for Montana's limited and controversial bison hunt
turned out to be on parole or probation for a felony. He gave up his
hunting tags before the season started.

Alsbury said his agency did a spot check of its records about five
years ago to see if violators had hunting tags. Officers confiscated
some guns.

Alsbury said the AP investigation suggests it may be time to search again.

"With the technology we have now we should be routinely checking
that," he said.

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