As usual, someone on FR will probably know, but this doesn't smell right to me. I was under the impression that the databases were already connected, and that a felon could no more buy a license than someone who hadn't attended hunting school. Maybe that's only when they set up the initial account with the DNR.
The more serious crime is firearm possession, not the license purchase, if this really is a problem the state can take $500m from somewhere else.
The complete article, turns out I didn't need to excerpt.
At least 77 felons bought Wisconsin deer hunting licenses last year even though it’s illegal for them to ever have guns.
The actual number is probably a lot higher.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says only one in five hunters allow their names to be released, which means the paper could only check the criminal records of a relative few.
The Department of Natural Resources picks up few of those felons. Only about 20 were caught last year.
At least 600 felons were documented to buy sporting licenses, which may or may not involve the use of guns.
It’s not against the law for felons to get gun-deer licenses, but it is a crime to use them.
Armed robbers and rapists were among those in the woods last year, creating possible tension and maybe violence.
Rep. Terry Musser, R-Black River Falls, agrees. He says he’ll introduce a bill next month to require criminal background checks for the hundreds of thousands who buy deer licenses.
A similar effort failed six years ago when the DNR said it would have cost a half-million dollars just to upgrade the necessary computers.
he’ll introduce a bill next month to require criminal background checks for the hundreds of thousands who buy deer licenses.
Why stop there?
There certainly must be criminal fisherman too!
/x
not to mention, ruining the meat.