by Jacob Kamen
The conversation on gun violence and gun control in recent decades have increasingly become centered on America’s youth, burdened by the rise of school shootings and adolescent suicide rates. These interrelated issues continue to garner attention in the national conversation, however its connection to hunting regulation and culture is often not mentioned. This is despite research finding a positive correlation between the beginning of deer hunting season and an increase in daily total shootings across rural US counties.
Currently, New York is set to consider two new bills in its state legislature aimed at lowering the hunting age to 10 years in the presence of a mentor (Assembly Bill A2312) and to 12 years to obtain a universal hunting license (Senate Bill S5100), respectfully. Proponents argue that doing so can expand hunting as a positive learning opportunity for youth, however it is time that we also consider how this may very well contribute to the ongoing epidemic of gun violence among youth, including in suicide rates.
In New York, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is responsible for regulating sports hunting, but rather than act in the name of protecting wildlife – and people – it often prefers to use its office to advance policies which benefit the hunting industry first. This translates to the facilitation of hunting beyond the goal of conservation, and the promotion of expanded hunting opportunities, whether that be to younger children or to already-engaged hunters.
Just take the DEC’s webpage on pheasant hunting for example. After mentioning the decline in wild pheasant populations, it states that “Since the 1970s, the goal of the pheasant stocking program is not to restore wild pheasant populations, but to provide upland game bird hunting opportunity.” Through this program, the DEC stocks pheasants raised on a game farm and distributes them across state public land, which does more to promote hunting and firearms use than it does to promote conservation.
In 2023, over half of all suicides in the US were committed using firearms while firearm deaths continue to result primarily from suicides over homicides. The easing of access to these weapons and the ostensible promotion of their use are only likely to play into these trends.
Paul Nestadt, psychiatrist and medical director at the Johns Hopkins Center for Suicide Prevention, advocates for reducing access to firearms as a broad approach to reducing suicide rates.
“I can’t tell you which of my patients is likely to die by suicide in the next six months,” Nestadt said at a recent event. “Instead of asking every doctor to figure out which patient will die by suicide and locking that patient up, it might be that we need to make sure there aren’t loaded guns available.”
Just as installing nets on bridges can prevent suicides, limiting access to firearms is also one method of doing the same, despite its political controversy. As studies show, increasing the proximity of firearms significantly increases the risk of suicide. Many restrictions on access such as background checks, waiting periods, and red flag laws are already in place across many states, including New York. For example, New York’s child access prevention and safe storage laws require adults to store their firearms in gun-locking devices to prevent unintentional use by minors. Bills A2312 and S5100 currently in the state legislature would take steps to undermine the effectiveness of these preventative measures, all to the benefit of the firearms industry and the potential cost of New Yorkers’ lives.
These bills, if enacted, would serve to appropriate hunting regulations and culture for the benefit of the firearms industry while ignoring the likely risk of increased injuries and fatalities. Instead of pursuing an expansion of hunting opportunities and encouraging engagement in them by children as young as 12 years, New York State should recognize the harm these policies can cause and take steps to reverse them, starting with ensuring these bills never leave committee.
Jacob Kamen is a writer with expertise in international affairs and environmental sustainability dedicated to working in the public interest. H graduated from SUNY New Paltz in Fall 2025 with a degree in International Relations and recently completed an internship with the United Nations Department of Global Communications, headquartered in New York.