The debate about whether hunters should be limited to hunting deer and other game with shotguns instead of rifles in populated areas is making its way to the forefront again.
When the Pennsylvania Game Commission meets Jan. 23-25 in Harrisburg, among those expected to testify before commissioners are the mother of 18-year-old Casey Burns and a state legislator interested in preventing accidents like the one that injured the teen.
Burns, an expectant mother, was sitting in a car outside her home in North Whitehall Township in Lehigh County Nov. 30 when a stray bullet hit her in the left side of her head, injuring an area of the brain controlling motor skills and speech. She survived, but had to undergo three hours of surgery to remove a blood clot. She still requires speech and physical therapy.
A deer hunter, Craig T. Wetzel, has been charged with firing the shot that hit Burns. He faces up to six months in jail and $7,400 in fines for violating the Game and Wildlife Code. The specific charges are shooting at or causing injury to a human being while hunting, a safety zone violation, damage to property, and unlawful taking or possess of game or wildlife.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/sports/outdoors/s_292581.html