Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill to allow hunters to wear fluorescent pink rather than the usual orange safety gear.
House Bill 526 passed the chamber on Tuesday by an overwhelming 109-4 vote and will now head to the Senate for consideration. According to Rep. Jimmy Fondren, R-Pascagoula, the basis is to encourage more people to become hunters while maintaining safety standards.
“[The idea] is to encourage more people to participate in hunting,” Fondren said after trying on a fluorescent pink hunting vest for the chamber to see. “It’s a safe color. I think it’s as bright as orange and people can see it throughout the woods.”
If written into law, Mississippi will become the latest state to allow hunters to wear pink after Wisconsin was the first to legalize it in 2016. Since then, nine other states have also hopped on board with the idea – Colorado, Louisiana, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
