On the radio this morning I heard a piece about some new legislation being pushed by the Administration…
This time it’s the DOI, they apparently have ‘draft’ legislation barring shooters from public lands for target practice and hunting; potentially impacting millions of acres of BLM land under new rules in draft by the Interior Department.
Their rationale? Because “urban dwellers” who visit public lands apparently “freak out” when they hear shooting on those public lands (even if it is on marked ranges or designated hunting areas) which are published at the entry points.
This appears to be the key paragraph- “When the authorized officer determines that a site or area on BLM-managed lands used on a regular basis for recreational shooting is creating public disturbance, or is creating risk to other persons on public lands; is contributing to the defacement, removal or destruction of natural features, native plants, cultural resources, historic structures or government and/or private property; is facilitating or creating a condition of littering, refuse accumulation and abandoned personal property is violating existing use restrictions, closure and restriction orders, or supplementary rules notices, and reasonable attempts to reduce or eliminate the violations by the BLM have been unsuccessful, the authorized officer will close the affected area to recreational shooting.”
e.g. they could close ranges for spent brass…
I think this is the first big move by the Obama administration to impose limits on firearms without ‘bothering’ Congress with those ‘little’ issues…
Apparently at least some of the hunting and shooting organizations are fighting back, and more power to them…
Edit- Guffaw has a post up HERE with an article link…
Apparently the uproar is working. Looks like BLM and DOI are backing down, if only just a little bit.
We must stay the course! This medium seems to be the best to do that! Thanks NFO!
They have time for this foolishness but not to actually take care of the land. Heaven forbid if Skip and Buffy don’t have the awesome rural experience they think they deserve.
They probably don’t realize the difference between private land and BLM separated by a fence or wonder why one is productive and one is choked with weeds and sagebrush.
The problem is with Obama working things, “Under the Radar”. His bad luck that we cracked the radar technology years ago.
We are a force to be reckoned with!!
We are, and will continue to be, winning!!
Like DaddyBear said, looks like they dropped it…..for now.
At the risk of sounding boorish, I shoot more or less what I want where I want, taking safety into account.
The law, while satisfying to city dwellers who occasionally venture out of their urban sewer can call BLM if they want to. And the BLM officer can cite me if they feel moved to do so.
>Caveat< If I was a BLM officer out in the middle of nowhere, I wouldn't bother some dangerous looking character who is sighting in his rifle. I just wouldn't. But that's me.
So, using this logic, I should totally tell the Ski Patrollers oit in the mountains to stop using explosives for avalache control, as hearing loud explosions “freaks me out” and scares me…
(Okay, I was a bit scared the first time, but then I saw the posted signs.)