The only thing that strikes odd to me is that the wording around "The use of a rifle is permitted only on privately owned land" did not change between 2016 and 2017 bills. Thus, the PCRs should have also been illegal last year. I think some lawyer reading the laws probably made the discovery and made it aware to the DNR so the DNR had to make the statement that PCRs are not legal.

2016 law:


2017 law: