Pa. bill to allow hunting with semi-automatics gets mixed review

The director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission is telling lawmakers the commission would probably allow hunters to use semi-automatic rifles on a limited basis to kill coyotes or foxes if the Legislature ends the state’s ban on using the weapons for hunting.

But Matt Hough warned legislators Monday not to expect any immediate expansion of that right to the hunting of deer, bear and other game.

He told the House Game and Fisheries Committee that game commissioners are concerned about the perception of hunters dressed in camouflage carrying military-style weapons.

Some landowners already have threatened to post their land if the law is changed, Hough said.Pennsylvania is apparently the only state that doesn’t allow the use of semi-automatics, which automatically reload once the trigger is pulled, according to the commission.