Congress is a hot mess these days, but they’re earning rare praise from me this week for restoring funding for school archery and hunting programs.
In a surprising move, the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate came together by voting for Rep. Mark Green’s (R-TN) and Rep. Rich Hudson's (R-NC) Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act. The bill passed with near unanimous support in the House and garnered support from all U.S. Senators.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign this bill into law, essentially reversing this provision of the “moderate” gun control bill Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), any day now.
Stefanie Feldman, the White House's Office of Gun Violence Prevention director, told Fox News: “The President supports a legislative solution to ensure ESEA funding can be used for valuable school enrichment programs, such as hunter safety and archery.”
The law will amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to “allow schools to use federal education funds to purchase or use dangerous weapons (as defined in law) to train students in archery, hunting, other shooting sports or culinary arts.”
This is a course correction after Biden’s Department of Education interpreted the BSCA’s language to apply “dangerous weapons” to bow archery equipment and firearms used in these critical programs.
“This is an incredible win for students across America. Congress has spoken loud and clear, and I urge President Biden to sign my bill into law,” Rep. Mark Green said in a press release. “I’m grateful for the overwhelming bipartisan support this bill garnered in the House, the Senate, and across the country. Both sides of the aisle agree that shooting sports and archery programs in schools contribute to the well-being and development of students. The passage of this bill in the Senate within a day of its passage in the People’s House is proof of that. The tremendous benefit of sports and extracurricular activities, especially those that get kids outside, cannot be overstated.”
Last month at Townhall, I explained how supporting “moderate” gun control bills like the BSCA has dire consequences, writing, “This is, sadly, what happens when one gives an inch on gun control - regardless of how “moderate” the proposal sounds. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), two BSCA backers, wrote to Secretary Miguel Cardona that he’s “misinterpreting” the BSCA. Now those 15 Republicans, joined by moderate Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Jon Tester (D-MT), appear to have buyer's remorse now.``
While Congress did the right thing here, California also undermined gun rights and conservation this week.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed 21 gun control bills into law – including Assembly Bill 28. Should the bill go unchallenged, it is expected to become official on July 1, 2024.
AB 28 will impose an 11 percent excise tax on firearms and ammunition sold in the Golden State–making California gun sales the most taxes in the nation. The bill’s supporters claim $160 million will be generated annually “to fund school safety and violence prevention programs, including initiatives to prevent school shootings, bolster firearm investigations, reduce retaliatory violence, and remove guns from domestic abusers.”
But lawmakers and hunting organizations rebuked the California Governor for his actions.
One Democratic lawmaker, Senator Bill Dodd of Napa, told the Sacramento Bee he opposed the bill on the grounds it will depress hunter participation numbers in California.
“When you add another 11% on, all it’s going to do is decrease the number of hunters,” Dodd remarked. “Sooner or later, this will be like the tobacco tax. And sooner or later, this money’s going to go down, down, down.”
Delta Waterfowl, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving ducks and securing the future of waterfowl hunting, expressed their disappointment in the bill and warned about its downstream adverse effects.
“We are thoroughly disappointed in the passing of AB 28,” Christopher Hoon, Delta Waterfowl’s manager of government affairs for the Pacific Flyway, said in a statement. “It now nearly doubles the tax rate, in turn driving up the costs of ammo for all waterfowl hunters, reducing sales, and potentially, reducing the conservation funding which all California residents enjoy.”
Hoon said this would undermine Pittman-Robertson while pricing law-abiding California sportsmen and women out of timeless outdoor activities.
“This legislation represents a misguided attempt to require law-abiding sportsmen and women to shoulder the financial burden of initiatives aimed at reducing the impact of criminals and criminal activity, all while disproportionately negatively impacting hunters, wildlife, and their habitats,” he added. “In addition, it creates yet another barrier of entry into hunting and shooting sports for lower-income families and widens the gap between those who can afford to participate and those who cannot.”
AB28 will fail to promote gun safety, price consumers out of hunting and shooting sports, and make firearms ownership out of reach. All the while undermining the excise tax regime that has pumped back billions into conservation funding.
Sanity–for once– prevailed in Congress but is entirely lacking in Sacramento.
Conservation – including fishing and hunting – shouldn’t be negotiated away. These timeless pastimes must be safeguarded and protected for generations to come.