Legislation to use rifles

State Rep. Matt Lori is urging a state Senate panel to consider legislation that will enable hunters to safely use rifles when hunting in southern Michigan.

Lori told the Senate Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Committee that allowing rifles using specific cartridges for hunting in the southern part of the state – now limited to shotguns, muzzleloaders and pistols – would be good for the sport and good for the economy.

House Bill 4283 would allow the use of a straight-walled pistol cartridge in rifles that can accommodate such ammunition. The pistol cartridges do not travel as far as conventional rifle rounds and pose less of a safety risk. The use of rifles in the southern part of Michigan is currently restricted because of the risk posed in more heavily populated areas of the state.

The bill would open the sport to more hunters who currently don’t hunt deer because of the strong recoil involved in using shotguns, Lori said.

The committee took the measure under consideration. The bill has already passed in the House of Representatives.