WASHINGTON, D.C. — NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, welcomed the introduction of H.R. 1614, the Range Access Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation, re-introduced by U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-Utah), would increase and improve outdoor recreation opportunities across the nation while improving infrastructure and driving economic growth in rural communities.
“NSSF commends Congressman Moore for introducing this vitally important legislation to increase access for the public to practice marksmanship at safe recreational shooting ranges,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “This legislation, that would require the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to have at least one qualifying recreational shooting range in each National Forest and BLM district, is crucial to ensuring safe public recreational shooting. Congressman Moore’s bill would also benefit conservation by reducing litter at non-dedicated ranges on federal public lands while also generating additional Pittman-Robertson revenue.”
The immediate benefit of this legislation is providing public access to safe recreational shooting ranges, especially in rural areas. Background checks for firearm sales saw a record of 21 million in 2020 and another 18.5 million in 2021, and 16.4 million in 2022. Those gun owners, many of whom are first-timers, are in need of safe and modern ranges to practice marksmanship skills.
This legislation has the added benefit of supporting wildlife conservation and improving recreational shooting access. Recreational shooting is tied to approximately 85 percent of the Pittman-Robertson excises taxes currently being paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers, making it a major driving contributor to wildlife conservation. Since the Pittman-Robertson excise tax was enacted in 1937, firearm and ammunition makers have paid $25.38 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars for the conservation and construction, and improvement of public recreational shooting ranges.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
Out in Maricopa Arizona we HAD a good range THEN the BLM closed us down and said they would build us a new range. Some 18 months later the range is built but the gate remains locked with absolutely no public access and nowhere and no one to call to complain. I suppose that this is Biden’s communist idea but I still wish that I had names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. We have to drive over 70 miles to get to a range now and even then sometimes that one is closed as well. Arm up and carry… Read more »
One of the reasons I bought my own 40 acres in Mojave county.
You have 3 congress-critters to represent you in D.C.. Contact their offices and a least give them an opportunity to be useful.
You can also try here: http://www.blm.gov/office/national-office
names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses……try bolt cutters applied over a little back bone. 🙂 🙂 🙂
You may have to have a permit for those bolt cutters.
HLB
Up in Iron County, UT, we have a small range run by the county, but the only thing the county does is maintain it. Biggest problem is getting 10 shooters to a green Aline break!
Agree on a line break. Damn spellcheck.
Do not let the NSSF turn your protected rights into an unprotected hobby!
Sounds like a backdoor way to shut down public lands even further to public shooting access. Nothing congress does, or the government at large does is good for the 2nd amendment. Nothing. Ever. Right now it is legal to shoot on any BLM administered land which includes national forests as long as the federal government has not posted it as a no shooting area with detailed signage that includes maps showing exactly where the no shooting area is. The only requirement is that you are shooting into a safe backstop, ie… a sizable hillside.
Who are the nssf major donors? I wouldn’t be surprised if they are soros and bloomberg. Taking your legal rights to shoot on public land and replacing them with government granted cattle coral style shooting ranges is how we get on the fast track to british style gun control.
I know no one that gives to this seemingly subversive organization.
They do not want you to be able to train on public lands. They only want you shooting from a bench under government controlled conditions on a range that they can revoke at any time. This is a really, really bad deal for the 2A. This is why i always say, the nssf is bs… They are worse fuds than the NRA. Always remember, what the government gives you, it can take away… Right now, you have the legal right to shoot on all land administered by the BLM unless it is posted by the BLM as no shooting, which… Read more »
Big – if I may, one minor correction to your on point post – the government never ‘gives’ us anything, they begrudgingly ‘allow’ us to exercise our rights, but only as long that doesn’t challenge their control.
“Pittman-Robertson excises taxes currently being paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers.” The gun and ammo buyers pay those taxes. Not the manufacturers. It is figured into the prices. The NSSF is full of themselves. They are also “industry-partners,” with the ATF.
Federal Public Land. This, in itself, is very limited by the Constitution. What we have is run-away government that people are not willing to control. It may be that as the whole United States house of cards collapses, our real recreational shooting ranges will be the convoy we need to move across the post-insurrection landscape.
HLB