Hunting Sense

Roger Barnett, a border vigilante I wrote about yesterday, is one of the type of people who give hunters a bad name. People tend to see anyone who hunts as a gun-toting, western justice type left winger that shoots first and asks questions later. It’s sad that men like that help shape the view people have about hunters.

Roger Barnett says he likes hunting, but the prey he’s stalking aren’t animals, they’re human. He is qouted as saying, “Humans. That’s the greatest prey there is on earth.” So instead of going on a Sunday hunt for deer or antelope, he goes out in search of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico onto his 22,000 acre ranch.

While I agree the problem with illegal immigrants is disconcerting to say the least, it sickens me to think of this man using the term ‘hunting’ and claiming he’s doing this country a service. Yes, the government isn’t doing an adequate job, but that still doesn’t give anyone the right to take the law into their own hands, especially someone like Roger Barnett.

In June of 2000, there were 27 incidents of violence against immigrants in Arizona, 15 of which Roger Barnett and his brother were a part of. Yes, the man has a right to protect his land, but it’s apparent that it has went far beyond that. The man is what I would consider to be a racist, plain and simple.

He has attended meetings with vigilante ranchers that the Ku Klux Klan and other supremist groups were a part of. He uses language that clearly displays a discrimination toward anyone of Mexican heritage. And he is quick to boast of his detaining of near 10,000 immigrants over the last ten years, even inviting news crews to film him while he does so. And he even stated he was willing to “kill Mexicans” if he had to. That is beyond the scope of what should be considered only wanting to protect ones land.

The case he is now on trial for is one where he insists that a Mexican-American citizen, Ronald Morales, and his hunting party were trespassing on his land. The land the group was on was State Trust land that Barnett had leased. Even with leasing the land, Barnett has no right to interfere with the public who are hunting and fishing on state owned land. So the trespassing excuse seems a little weak to me.

Morales is a veteran of the United States Navy, where he served six years defending our country. His country. His only mistake that day was being of Mexican heritage. The color of his skin was enough for Barnett to hold him and his daughters at gunpoint and make discriminatory remarks. Barnett’s problem is that he enjoys what he does too much.

Vigilantes like Barnett are what many envision when they think of hunters. I know that isn’t the case, but people like him don’t help in changing peoples opinion. They think that anyone who likes to hunt and own a gun is someone that is willing to use the gun for doing something as stupid as what Barnett does–take the law into their own hands instead of letting the proper authorities deal with it.

Barnett makes me sick and I hope they throw the book at him. As for Morales, I thank him for giving six years of his life to defend our country and see him as what I think of when I think of what hunters are.

Do a search on Roger Barnett on Google and see what you think of him afterwards. Many of the articles I found, too many to list here, were ones I used in writing this.

hunting, Arizona, immigrants, racist, vigilantes, Roger Barnett