Sunday Gun."_--A new weapon of peculiar form and great deadliness
to song birds, has recently come into use. Because of the manner of its
use, it is known as the "Sunday gun." It is specially adapted to
concealment on the person. A man could go through a reception with one
of these deadly weapons absolutely concealed under his dress coat! It is
a weapon with two barrels, rifle and shot; and it enables the user to
kill anything from a humming-bird up to a deer. What the shot-barrel can
not kill, the rifle will. It is not a gun that any sportsman would own,
save as a curiosity, or for target use.

The State Ornithologist of Massachusetts, Mr. E.H. Forbush, informs me
that already the "Sunday gun" has become a scourge to the bird life of
that state. Thousands of them are used by men and boys who live in
cities and towns, and are able to get into the country only on Sundays.
They conceal them under their coats, on Sunday mornings, go out into the
country, and spend the day in shooting small birds and mammals. The dead
birds are concealed in various pockets, the Sunday gun goes under the
coat, and at nightfall the guerrilla rides back to the city with an
innocent smile on his face, as if he had spent a day in harmless
enjoyment of the beauties of nature.

The "Sunday gun" is on sale everywhere, and it is said to be in use both
by American and Italian killers of song-birds. It weighs only two
pounds, eight ounces, and its cost is so trifling that any guerrilla who
wishes one can easily find the money for its purchase. There are in the
United States at least a million men and boys quite mean enough to use
this weapon on song-birds, swallows, woodpeckers, nuthatches, rabbits
and squirrels, and like other criminals, hide both weapon and loot in
their clothing. So long as this gun is in circulation, no small bird is
safe, at any season, near any city or town.

Now, what are the People going to do about it?

My recommendation is that each state enact a law in the following terms:

Be it enacted, etc.--That from and after the passage of this act it
shall be unlawful for any person to use in hunting, or to carry
concealed on the person, any shotgun, or rifle, or combination of
shotgun and rifle, with a barrel or barrels less than twenty-eight
inches in length, or with a skeleton stock fixed on a hinge.

The carrying of any rifle or shotgun concealed on the person shall
constitute a felony.

The penalties for hunting with any