Contact Your Senators:Sportsmen's Act Will Soon Face Vote

 

 

 

 

NSSF Urges Calls to Your Senators

As the 112th Congress begins its post-election session, NSSF encourages all firearms owners, hunters and sportsmen to call or email their U.S. Senators and urge them to vote YES on theSportsmen's Act (S. 3525), the most important package of measures for the benefit of sportsmen in a generation. An early vote has been cleared procedurally, so act now.

This historic legislation includes the firearms industry's top legislative priority, the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act (S. 838) that would clarify that ammunition is excluded from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Anti-hunting groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity are suing the EPA to force a ban ontraditional ammunition made with lead components that would devastate hunting and shooting sports participation, drive up ammunition prices by almost 200 percent on average and dry up conservation funding.

No less than 46 of the nation's leading sportsmen and conservation groups including the NRA, Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance and the Boone and Crockett Club are championing S. 3525. This bipartisan legislation is strongly supported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

The Sportsmen's Act is a package of 19 separate bills -- the majority of sportsmen's legislative priorities on Capitol Hill. (See below for an overview of the components of the bill.) A similar package of bills--the Sportsmen's Heritage Act of 2012 (H.R. 4089)--was passed by the House in the spring by a bipartisan vote of 276 to 146. Passage of this pro-sportsmen's legislation will promote, protect and preserve our nation's hunting, shooting and conservation heritage for generations to come.

Our voices must be heard! As you read this, Anti-hunting forces are working to defeat S. 3525. So act now, call your U.S. Senators at202-224-3121 and urge them to vote YES for the bipartisan Sportsmen's Act of 2012.

Sportsmen's Priorities in the Sportsmen's Act of 2012

The Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act: Specifically excludes ammunition and fishing tackle from the Toxic Substances Control Act, preventing unnecessary regulations that could devastate hunting, shooting, conservation funding and the firearm and ammunition industries.

Making Public Lands Public: Requires that the 1.5 percent of annual Land and Water Conservation Fund funding is made available to secure public access to federal public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes.

Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act: Makes Pittman-Robertson funds available to states for a longer period of time for the creation and maintenance of shooting ranges. The bill encourages federal land agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain shooting ranges and limits liability for these agencies.

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to urge your senators to SUPPORT theSportsmen's Act of 2012.