A proposed bill is aiming to allow hunting rifles for deer hunting across Minnesota by getting rid of ‘shotgun-only’ zones in the southern part of the state.

Currently, a large portion of southern and western Minnesota is under a shotgun-only zone, meaning only shotguns with slugs, muzzleloaders and handguns are allowed for hunting.

The shotgun-only zones have been in place since 1942, since then the deer harvest has grown by around 90,000.

“It was established decades ago with the intent to make it a little more difficult to hunt deer in open landscape,” said Leslie McInenly, wildlife populations and regulations program manager with the Department of Natural Resources. “We have more deer down in southern Minnesota and there’s been technological changes, so it definitely doesn’t have a meaningful wildlife management purpose anymore.”

Some in southern Minnesota are concerned that lifting the shotgun-only zone would be a public safety issue.

“There’s folks who live down there who are concerned about the safety issue,” said Rob Driesten, the managing editor of Plymouth-based Outdoor News. “With longer-range firearms, like center-fire rifles.”

Sen. Steve Drezkowski, R-Mazeppa, the co-sponsor of the bill says that shotguns may actually be more dangerous than rifles.

“Rifles, when hunting with them in a normal hunting position parallel to the ground, have been shown to be safer, having a smaller danger zone than shotguns,” Sen. Drezkowski says.

The proposed bill would still allow counties to have their own shotgun-only areas.

A report by Remington Ammunition found that Minnesota, New Jersey and Massachusetts are the only states where rifles can’t be widely used for deer hunting.