Help us! GearJunkie might earn a small fee from affiliate hyperlinks on this article. Study Extra
Arkansas State Consultant Steve Unger has launched a daring new invoice that marries public security with outside recreation. The proposal? Give truckers who assist bust human trafficking operations a lifetime searching and fishing license — as a result of nothing says “thank you for saving lives” fairly like a everlasting move to bag a buck.
Truckers, who spend lengthy hours crisscrossing the state’s highways, are uniquely positioned to identify suspicious exercise at truck stops and relaxation areas. Unger’s plan turns these street warriors into potential heroes with a hefty incentive: entry to Arkansas’ nice outside for all times. It’s a transfer that not solely highlights the state’s love of searching but additionally its willpower to fight a deeply troubling crime.
Turning CB Radios Right into a Crime-Combating Hotline
The proposal builds on present initiatives like “Truckers Against Trafficking,” a nationwide program that trains drivers to acknowledge indicators of trafficking. Unger’s invoice takes it one step additional, placing boots — and perhaps camo — on the bottom by rewarding these whose suggestions result in precise arrests or rescues.
The Hunt for Justice
(Photograph/Shutterstock)
If handed, the laws would grant profitable truckers a lifetime license from the Arkansas Sport and Fish Fee. Which means no extra annual charges to hunt, fish, or get pleasure from among the state’s most beloved pastimes. For Arkansas’s outdoors-loving truckers, it’s a deal that’s laborious to beat, particularly on prime of the satisfaction of saving lives.
The method could be tightly managed, with solely verified suggestions that end in important outcomes qualifying for the reward. In different phrases, no phony sightings of traffickers will rating free deer tags.
What Precisely Is a Lifetime Searching License?
Some states have chosen to supply a lifetime license for searching and/or angling to residents. What these Lifetime Licenses embody varies drastically from state to state. For Arkansas, it’s a reasonably all-inclusive move to get pleasure from nearly every thing the state has to supply hunters and anglers. The usual payment is $1,000 and it contains:
“… purchasers of any age to the privileges of the Resident Sportsman’s License (hunting) and the Resident Fisheries Conservation License (fishing). Fees for trout permits, leased lands permits, alligator permits, elk permits, state waterfowl stamps and wildlife management area permit hunts are waived with this license. License holders must apply, however, for WMA hunts, be successfully drawn and return notification of acceptance before being issued a permit. HIP registration is required to hunt migratory game birds. To hunt waterfowl, federal waterfowl stamps are required in addition to HIP. This license is available from the AGFC Little Rock Office.”
Are There Hurdles?
The invoice nonetheless has to outlive the legislative jungle, the place critics are more likely to query the associated fee and administrative logistics. It appears this one could also be a comparatively simple promote, although. If there’s one factor that appears to unite the larger good, it’s the will to cease human trafficking.
One factor’s for certain: Unger’s objective is to placed on slightly extra of a “hunt” in opposition to human traffickers. Discuss giving truckers a brand new type of trophy to intention for.
