Referendum: Trust no one but yourself

On 11 April history will be made.

For the first time in our life “we the people” will act as legislators to repeal a bad law. We will not be voting because some politician asked us to do so. We will be voting because 45,000 fellow citizens had signed a petition asking for a referendum.

The law we are being asked to revoke is bad for three reasons.

It is unsustainable to kill birds while they are migrating to breed. It makes no sense to allow thousands of hunters to roam the countryside with guns while  protected birds are migrating. It allows hunters carrying guns to occupy the countryide at the only time of the year where the weather permits picnics.

One strong but deceptive argument which I expect to be made more freqiuently in the last days of the campaign is that just as during the last Autumn season the government stopped the hunting season to quell down on rampant illegalities, it can use the same power to stop Spring hunting if illegalities are committed.

Therefore we will be told that we can safely vote 'yes', while leaving it up to politicians to stop abuse.

This argument is deceptive for a number of reasons.

First of all research shows that shooting turtle dove and quail in Spring is initself not sustainable.

Secondly studies suggest that hunters are under declaring the amount of birds they shoot in Spring.

Thirdly, since the election there have been more not less signs of appeasment towards the hunting lobby. Transfers of ALE officers,  the decision to re-open the trapping season in breach of EU law, the abolition of the spring hunting licence fee and the reduction of the hunting curfew on Sundays  from 3pm to 7pm are all examples of this tendency.

Surely the PM’s decision to stop the autumn season was a courageous, albeit arbitrary one. But it may well have been a direct consequence of the impending referendum. For the massacre of protected birds is the greatest possible advert for the No camp. That is why we will be voting before and not during the Spring hunting season. The Yes campaign would have not stood a chance with hunters shooting at anything passing in the sky. This would have exposed the Yes campaign's makeover of the hunting lobby as a hoax. 

But the major reason why one should vote 'no' is that PL and PN politicians cannot be trusted to administer this hobby for the simple reason that both parties are blackmailed by the hunting lobby and both parties have a track record of bending over backwards to appease the hunting lobby.

If the No wins, spring hunting is gone forever. Politicians will have no further say on the matter. 

If the Yes wins, spring hunting will remain with us for the foreseeable future and politicians will retain the arbitrary power to decide on whether to enforce the law or not. Politicians may at times choose to use an iron fist to stop illegalities. At other times they may choose to close an eye depending on electoral considerations.

On this issue you can safely trust yourself more than you trust any politician. For once we do not need intermediaries to get the job done. We can do the job ourselves by voting no.