By PETER JACKSON | Associated Press
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania would no longer be the only state that bars hunters from using semiautomatic rifles if bills pending before a House committee are approved.
The Game and Fisheries Committee is holding a hearing Monday on proposals to legalize at least some hunting with the weapons, which have cartridges that automatically reload once the trigger is pulled.
One bill, sponsored by Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Allegheny, would allow the use of certain semiautomatics to be used for hunting. The other proposal, sponsored by Rep. Curtis Sonney, R-Erie, would limit their use to hunting coyotes, foxes and woodchucks.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission is not expected to oppose ending the semiautomatics ban. But spokesman Travis Lau says the commission wants regulatory control over which species of game may be hunted with the weapons.
