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JMBzine - Temporary Blog
Cockfighting - does state law apply on tribal land?
AP/NewsOK.com: Cockfight set on Indian land
Here's some other bits of information on this development:
BanCockfighting.org (from Ada Evening News): Kiowa members claim cockfighting legal on tribal land
GameFowlNews.com: Info on what I think is the cockfight mentioned in the NewsOK story
My guess is that the state law will be found to be valid. The reason is that the Kiowa Tribe itself has not chosen to regulate in this area. If they had (i.e. drafted a comprehensive code for the enforcement of the laws on cockfighting) then I think the state laws would be preempted by the tribal laws. But if the tribe has not acted in the area (and from what I can tell, the tribe has not. The organization that is purporting to license the cockfighters does not appear to be tribally sanctioned (according to the info in the NewsOK story and also from the lack of info on this from the Kiowa Tribe's official website.
However, I also think that the cockfighters might win in the arena of public opinion, particularly if there are dozens of arrests. Who knows though?
