I just don't understand why "animal rights" activists are so violent.
Wisconsin duck hunters Levi Johnston and David Reichenberger had just shot a pair of mallards when a stranger began heckling them from the nearby woods.
"He went off on a rant about how we shouldn't be here, we should be in Afghanistan if we were going to shoot something," Johnston told KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, Minn.
But the anti-hunter, now known to be 64-year-old Van Hawkinson, didn't just stop with insults: He got his shotgun, which he admits to with more than a hint of pride.
"For a moment there, I got angry and was hurt," Hawkinson said. "I jumped in the vehicle took a .410 with me, what's that gonna do? I shot out at the corn field up in the air. ... I'm an animal lover and bird lover. I don't like to see things die, especially for the sport of killing."
Hawkinson was charged with dangerous use of a weapon and disorderly conduct—minor misdemeanors, essentially slaps on the wrist. Johnston and Reichenberger do not feel the charges fit the crimes, and I tend to agree with them. Were Hawkinson's actions not a clear threat against their lives?
"He got nothing for basically trying to kill us," Reichenberger said. "How is it you can shoot somebody and the next day get out of jail?"
Is Hawkinson sorry for his actions?
"Yes," he said with a big laugh, "Because I went to jail for it."
I'm nearly as disgusted by the weak charges brought against Hawkinson as I am by his actions. It's clear he has no regrets about his actions. And what message does Hawkinson's fine and night in jail send to other potentially violent anti-hunters?
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