Paul A. Smith

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Should American hunters register their firearms? Would it help improve their image among the general public? Could it help reduce U.S. gun deaths?

A retired University of Wisconsin sociology professor and avid hunter thinks so.

“As we face a firearm crisis in America today, it’s time for hunters to stop hiding behind the Second Amendment and claim the moral high ground as our nation’s responsible gun owners,” said professor emeritus Thomas Heberlein.

The firearm registration system would be voluntary, funded by hunters and managed by state agencies.

Weekly fishing report

Heberlein’s provocative proposal is laid out in an article titled “Sweden may have the answer to America’s gun problem.”

The work was published Monday in Vox, a Washington, D.C.-based news website.

I also heard Heberlein present his ideas on the topic July 23 at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association in Eagle River.

I’ve always made a clear distinction between hunting and the shooting sports and gun violence.

America’s hunters and target shooters have as much to do with the country’s gun violence as Jordan Rodgers (Aaron’s younger brother and contestant on the recent “The Bachelorette” program) affects the Green Bay Packers offense.

There is no connection.

And I’ve never felt our hunting culture was threatened by gun deaths in other parts of society.

But since I know Heberlein’s concerns are genuine and will generate discussion in the hunting community, I feel his ideas are worthy of debate.

Heberlein splits his time between Wisconsin, where he owns a Northwoods hunting cabin, and Sweden, where he and his wife spend several months in the nation’s capital, Stockholm. Heberlein also hunts in Sweden.

His views have been influenced by living abroad, rules in the two countries and statistics, Heberlein said.

Hunters in Sweden are required to register their firearms and store them in locked vaults. American hunters are not required to do either, although many keep their firearms in gun safes.

Federal law does not allow firearm registration in America.

Sweden ranks 10th out of 178 countries in the world for per capita gun ownership and had 21 homicides by firearms in 2014, according to statistics provided by Heberlein. In comparison, the United States ranks higher in per capita gun ownership and had a 700% higher rate of firearm homicides in 2014.

Heberlein admitted to feeling helpless at the news of mass shootings in the U.S.

“The nation demands some action, and we, more than 13 million gun owners who hunt, are in a unique position to lead the way,” Heberlein said. “Firearm registration as part of our normal licensing process could both strengthen our hunting tradition and at the same time help break the national logjam of inaction.”

Heberlein said Sweden has been able to maintain a healthy hunting culture while requiring firearm registration.

“To protect what we love — our hunting life — we must differentiate ourselves from other gun owners,” Heberlein writes.

Heberlein does not think hunters’ registration of firearms would lower the murder rate or prevent mass shootings in America.

But he said it could help save lives if it leads to more hunters storing firearms in gun safes, thereby preventing some accidental shootings by children and others.

Calls on Wednesday to leading shooting sports, hunting and conservation groups generated no support for Heberlein’s proposal.

“This suggestion in the form of a professorial essay is another attempt to pit one group of gun owners against another,” said Michael Bazinet, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

Bazinet said it would only serve the gun control community that has “little understanding of how firearms work, no appreciation for hunting traditions and will pursue incremental steps toward a national registration system that is anathema to American gun owners.”

Nick Pinizzotto, president and CEO of the National Deer Alliance, called Heberlein’s article “irresponsible.”

“I think it’s unfortunate and really off-base,” Pinizzotto said. “Gun registration has never reduced firearm deaths. I see this idea as a step backward.”

It’s wise for hunters to be vigilant for threats to their privileges.

In every survey I’ve seen in the last 25 years, a majority of Americans have supported hunting.

Those who know anything about it understand hunters are trained to never point a muzzle in an unsafe direction and treat every firearm as if it were loaded.

Hunting in Wisconsin is safe and getting safer, thanks to decades of hunter education and effective rules.

If the general public attempts to curtail future hunting opportunities, it will likely be due to practices it sees as unethical, such as shooting animals over bait, rather than an unacceptable level of gun-related violence.

On this Heberlein and I would probably agree: It’s important to differentiate hunting, the shooting sports and gun violence.

Last week after Ginny Thrasher won the gold medal for the U.S. at the Rio Olympics in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event, she spoke of her sadness at how America’s gun control controversy has affected her sport.

“Some of the (controversy surrounding) gun laws in America is just distracting from our sport, which is very different,” said Thrasher, as quoted in USA Today.

Our hunting tradition will change over time. And Americans will continue to grapple with ways to reduce firearm-related deaths.

I’d readily embrace a regulation that has been proven to protect hunting’s future and reduce gun fatalities. And we should always encourage an open and honest exchange of ideas.

But registering hunting firearms is not a solution to our nation’s gun violence.

Lind passes:Ted Lind of Milwaukee, a long-time coordinator of Kid’s Fishing Clinics in southeastern Wisconsin as well as a delegate to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, died Friday; he was 88. Services for Lind will be held Thursday at Krause Funeral Home, 9000 W. Capitol Drive, Milwaukee. Visitation is from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. with a funeral service at 12:30 p.m.