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PETITION OPPOSING THE DISCHARGE OF FIREARMS AND USE OF LETHAL WEAPONS
IN TOWN-OWNED OPEN SPACES,
AND OPPOSING THE USE OF TOWN-OWNED OPEN SPACES FOR HUNTING
To: Town of Fairfield, Representative Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen, and First Selectman
We, the undersigned, are members of the public who use and enjoy, or have other interests in, town-owned open space land in Fairfield. We believe that the public should continue to use and enjoy these public properties for walking, hiking, horseback riding, camping, picnicking, nature appreciation, wildlife observation, exercising our dogs, and other forms of positive, socially-interactive recreation for which these properties have traditionally been administered—but not for hunting—or the use of firearms or other deadly weapons.
The population density of Fairfield, and the proximity of ever-increasing development of residential subdivisions, schools, parks, public recreational facilities, etc., necessitates common-sense acknowledgment of the grave and immediate threat to public safety such activities represent. We reject any effort to minimize this concern. Town-owned open space is used recreationally every day of the year, and should not be closed for any period to accommodate hunting activities. It will be impossible to provide adequate notice to every person who uses these open space parcels, or to block all access points, in order to prevent risk to the public during times when hunting is allowed.
Hunting would permanently alter the very core of Fairfield open spaces: and how we think about these places that we visit as families to seek peaceful relief from pressures of modern suburban living. The knowledge that animals are being intentionally killed and wildlife habitats deliberately destroyed would forever change our perception and experience of these public open spaces: perhaps barring our willingness to visit them at all. We do not want to walk through
killing fields.
We request that you take action to prohibit carrying of loaded firearms, discharge of firearms, use of other lethal weapons such as bows and cross-bows, hunting, injuring or killing of wildlife, and destruction of wildlife habitats on Fairfield town-owned open spaces, which will adversely affect the safety and welfare of the community.
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