Bill Would Allow Legally Blind Texans to Hunt

Excerpted from The Houston Chronicle:
A state lawmaker wants to make sure no Texan is left out when it comes to hunting, even if the hunter is legally blind.

Rep. Edmund Kuempel, a Seguin Republican, has filed a bill for the 2007 legislative session that would allow legally blind hunters to use a laser sight, or lighted pointing instrument. The devices are forbidden for sighted hunters.

Blind hunters would also have to have a sighted hunter along with them, but they could hunt any game that sighted people can hunt in the same seasons and using the same weapons.

"This opens up the fun of hunting to additional people, and I think that's great," Kuempel said.

Visually impaired people are able to shoot with the aid of a sighted person, he said.

"I've seen this on TV before, when they're taking target practice," Kuempel said. "When they aim the gun the guide tells them, aim two inches higher or two inches lower and you're on the target, and you're off and running."

Okay, I will gladly go on record as an NRA-supporting, gun-toting, pro-Second-Amendment, Bambi-roasting, sometimes-people-just-need-to-be-shot sort of guy. And I certainly don't want to seem insensitive to the visually impaired. Lord knows my vision isn't what it used to be, and it wasn't that good in the first place. But really now, does everybody seriously think this is a good idea? “Up an inch and two inches to the right…whoops, I meant left…dang…well, the deer’s gone, but Mrs. Henderson will look good over the mantle. Wait, you won’t be able to see her anyway. Well. I guess we leave her for the scavengers and try again in the morning...”