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President moves to Push Shooters Off BLM Public Lands

Jackalope

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Obama Pushing Shooters Off Public Lands

November 16, 2011

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.

"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.

If the draft policy is finally approved, some public access to Bureau lands to hunters would also be limited, potentially reducing areas deer, elk, and bear hunters can use in the West.


The rest here.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
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17,381
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North Central Ohio
I still say he needs impeached. I don't want to pay his salary after he is replaced. He has done nothing but run us all into the poorhouse so why should we be left to pay his retirement benefits and salary. Fug that guy and his harebrained ideas.
 

hickslawns

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Supporting Member
39,721
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Ohio
I didnt even know we was allowed to use public lands for target practice??How does it work exactly?

You have got to figure there are public grounds all throughout the country. This is a federal deal I presume? You could have public grounds out west with thousands of acres and very few people using it at once. Maybe none in some areas. This is another attempt to take away the rights of law abiding citizens and reduce the rights of hunters/sportsmen/shooters.
 
I didnt even know we was allowed to uase public lands for target practice??How does it work exactly?

This wont effect ohioians so much but it will effect western states. The blm is a very corupt org. If this happens i wont be able to drive to the other side of the casacades mountians and set up my own quarter mile rifle range for the day. Elk hunting will also suffer. States like montana wyoming and the dakotas will have the hardest time.
 

Jackalope

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38,841
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I just mean can I target practice on any public land that allows say hunting??Im clueless here

No you can not.. State parks are not BLM lands. The Bureau of Land management has over 245 million acres they manage. WNF is managed bu the National Forrest Service.. Mining, drilling etc is the BLM. WNF has stipulations against target practice.. Other places like out west where they own million acre tracts of land. Such stipulations don;t exist.
 

Jackalope

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Staff member
38,841
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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.]
"We don't want to have to close any areas," said an official as BLM provided Washington Whispers with a statement clarifying the developing guidelines.
"We are in no way interested in banning recreational target shooting, hunting, or fishing—on the contrary, our goal is to develop guidance that will help land managers maximize and preserve opportunities for recreational shooting," said the BLM statement.[Read about the subpoena issued as a result of Operation Fast and Furious.]
However, the official said it is possible that areas previously used for target practice that are too close to houses or areas of urban growth could be put off limits. The new plan would be to provide shooters with a map or guide on where they can go for target practice nearby, said the official.
"It's the difference of driving two minutes [to shoot] or 15 minutes," said the official.
Whispers reported on the controversy yesterday. A committee of conservationists and outdoors groups advising BLM has expressed outrage over the developing guidelines, charging that BLM is making it hard for shooters to practice on public lands, which has a long tradition in the West. The Interior official said that the committee's concerns will be addressed in a "redraft" of the guidelines.
[Check out new Debate Club about whether Congress needs to overhaul gun trafficking laws.]
The story, promoted on the Drudge Report and Fox Nation, had gun owners up in arms.
Below is the full BLM statement to Whispers:
The Department of the Interior fully supports and encourages hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting on America's public lands. Nearly 400,000 hunters visit Bureau of Land Management lands every year, generating an estimated $785 million in economic output. The vast majority of BLM's 245 million acres is open to recreational shooting, and we want to keep it that way.
The BLM wants to protect opportunities for recreational shooting on public lands and reduce the possibility for conflicts that in the past have resulted in some recreational shooting closures. That is why we are currently working with the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council (WHHCC)—which includes representatives from sportsmen's organizations, the outdoor recreation industry, state resource agencies and others—to develop guidance to protect long-term access to recreational target shooting.
We are at the early stages of our work with the WHHCC and will be guided by their input and recommendations. We are in no way interested in banning recreational target shooting, hunting, or fishing—on the contrary, our goal is to develop guidance that will help land managers maximize and preserve opportunities for recreational shooting. It is important to note that hunting and fishing on public lands is managed by state fish and game agencies—and is not the subject of these discussions.

Source. http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/wa...s-heard-interior-will-not-ban-target-practice
 
No you can not.. State parks are not BLM lands. The Bureau of Land management has over 245 million acres they manage. WNF is managed bu the National Forrest Service.. Mining, drilling etc is the BLM. WNF has stipulations against target practice.. Other places like out west where they own million acre tracts of land. Such stipulations don;t exist.
10-4 on that..gotcha!