New Law Expands Hunting Opportunities in North Carolina

Law Promotes Sportsmens’ Rights & Sound Wildlife Management

Fairfax, Va.— North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday signed into law House Bill 559, the Outdoor Heritage Enhanced bill. The law expands hunting opportunities in the Tar Heel State and provides for a state study to consider the impacts of expanding hunting on migratory birds.

"The passage of the Outdoor Heritage Enhanced bill is a victory for North Carolina’s hunting community,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action. “This new law honors the tremendous economic impact North Carolina's hunting heritage has on the state."

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sportsmen and women spend $3.3 billion on wildlife recreation in North Carolina each year. The National Shooting Sports Foundation says more than 35,000 North Carolinians work in jobs supported by outdoorsmen and women. Nationwide, hunting contributes more than $38.3 billion to the economy each year, supporting more than 680,000 jobs. 

Hunters and other gun owners are among the foremost supporters of sound wildlife management and conservation practices in the United States. Since 1937, they have contributed more than $7.2 billion to a variety of wildlife and habitat conservation programs, through Pittman-Robertson Act revenues associated with the purchase of firearms, ammunition and archery equipment. These conservation programs have led to dramatic increases in populations of various game species including deer, elk, antelope, turkeys and waterfowl.

The Outdoor Heritage Enhanced law:

• Allows the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to study the impact of expanding the hunting of migratory birds to include hunting on Sunday;
• Expands hunting on Sunday to public lands;
• Removes the exemption of counties with a population over 700,000 from hunting on Sundays;
• Removes the prohibition on hunting within 500 yards of a residence on Sundays;
• Changes the standards for counties to opt-out of allowing hunting on Sundays.

“On behalf of the NRA’s five million members, I want to thank Gov. Cooper for strengthening our hunting traditions,” concluded Cox. “I also want to recognize the bill’s primary sponsors in the House and Senate, Representatives John Bell and Chris Millis, and Senators John Alexander and Bill Rabon, as well as House Speaker Tim Moore, Rep. Brian Turner, Senate Pres Pro Tem Phil Berger, and Sen. Danny Britt for their leadership in the legislature.”

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America's oldest civil rights and sportsmen's group. More than five million members strong, NRA continues to uphold the Second Amendment and advocates enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation's leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the armed services. Be sure to follow the NRA on Facebook at NRA on Facebook and Twitter @NRA.