Thursday, November 17, 2011

They're Scaring Folks

As noted by Guffaw,  the administration is trying to squeeze out hunters and target shooters on public lands.  From the "Washington Whispers" blog at www.usnews.com:
Gun owners who have historically been able to use public lands for target practice would be barred from potentially millions of acres under new rules drafted by the Interior Department, the first major move by the Obama administration to impose limits on firearms.
Officials say the administration is concerned about the potential clash between gun owners and encroaching urban populations who like to use same land for hiking and dog walking.
Bad enough, but here's the kicker (bolding is mine):
"It's not so much a safety issue. It's a social conflict issue," said Frank Jenks, a natural resource specialist with Interior's Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 245 million acres. He adds that urbanites "freak out" when they hear shooting on public lands.
It's not a safety issue.  It just scares city folks.  Next thing you know they'll be whining because they got some nature on their shoes.

And as to their discussion of trash, I have just two words:  Zuccotti Park.

What this administration can't get one way, they'll go for another way.

The full story can be read here.

And I'm not a hunter.  But I have sense enough to check the hunting seasons if I'm thinking of hiking in certain places at certain times of the year.

3 comments:

  1. Just in (hope this works)

    Shooters Heard: Interior Will Not Ban Target Practice
    November 17, 2011 RSS Feed Print

    Under fire from gun owners concerned about draft guidelines that could limit areas for target practice on western public lands, the Interior Department today said it would make sure shooters still have access to lands long available for firearms recreation.

    "Our goal is to leave lands open to shooting," said an Interior official for the Bureau of Land Management, which is drafting guidelines to deal with the growing clash between skittish urbanites moving to western wilderness areas and America's tradition of letting gun owners shoot targets on public lands. [Read: Obama Pushing Shooters Off Public Lands.]

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  2. @Stephen - Thanks for the update. Fortunately, the web is probably why word of this got around so fast and it was possible to bring pressure to bear so quickly.

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  3. PH- What Stephen said. I am so thankful to have this *cough, cough* Web of friends and this medium!

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