URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT! Action Required - Sportsmen’s Act

[huntrights]

URGENT LEGISLATIVE ALERT! Action Required - Sportsmen’s Act

Sportsmen’s Act: Urge Senators to Vote YES on Procedural Motion

http://www.nssfblog.com/sportsmens-act-urge-senators-to-vote-yes-on-procedural-motion/


This is very easy and will only take about 3 to 4 minutes of your time.

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard ASAP at 202-224-3121

Ask to be connected to your U.S. Senator’s office. 

For Washington State these are:
Senator Patty Murray
Senator Maria Cantwell

Once connected, respectfully ask that the Senator vote YES on a critically important procedural motion that will allow the Senate to take up the Sportsmen's Act (S.3525) after the November election.

You may need to give your zip code as well.

That’s it!  Very fast and easy; a little effort on your part will make a huge difference to every hunter and fisherman in this country.

You must act now! The Senate can consider this important procedural vote at any time. Anti-hunting forces are aggressively trying to block the Senate from even considering the Sportsmen’s Act. So please act now.

Please pass this on to all of your hunting and fishing family, friends, and colleagues.

[pianoman9701]

It took 4 minutes, JS.

Done with both.

[PB]

Done. I also copied the link, pasted into an email and sent it on to other responsible voting citizens.

[huntrights]

Done. I also copied the link, pasted into an email and sent it on to other responsible voting citizens.

Thank you.

[Special T]

What is the sportsman act... just so everyone knows...

[RB]

 

[csaaphill]

  Didn't call but used your link to the site that sponsors this legislation and sent the letter it asks for on the site. Sends it to both Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. My advise is to vote these women out though for each is a anti gun, anti hunting candidate so may fall on depth ears. Who knows.

[pianoman9701]

What is the sportsman act... just so everyone knows...

The Sportsmen's Act of 2012 includes:

Making Public Lands Public Act (S. 901) –Increases access for angling, hunting and recreational shooting on federal lands, by directing 1.5 percent of the Land and Water Conservation Fund to ensure access to fishing, hunting and other recreational activities.

The Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Protection Act (S. 838) – Blocks ongoing attempts to federally ban lead in recreational fishing equipment and ammunition by clarifying the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Billfish Conservation Act (S. 1451) – Conserves declining billfish populations by prohibiting the commercial sale and importation of billfish throughout the U.S., with an exception in the state of Hawaii and the Pacific Insular Area islands to preserve traditional fisheries.

National Fish Habitat Conservation Act (S. 1201) – Authorizes the National Fish Habitat Partnership, the most comprehensive effort ever attempted to conserve, restore and enhance fish habitat on a range-wide scale.

Artificial Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico – Requires the Department of the Interior to coordinate federal and state agency efforts in order to maintain idle drilling platforms as valuable artificial fish reefs.

[Special T]

Obviously what we all can get behind! 

[csaaphill]

Thank you for contacting me regarding S.838, the Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act, which is currently pending in the United States Senate.  I appreciate knowing your views on this matter.

 

In the Senate, this legislation falls under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee. While I am not a member of that Committee, I want to assure you that I will be following the progress of this bill and will keep your views in mind if this or related legislation comes before the full Senate for consideration.

 

Again, thank you for contacting me.  I hope you will continue to keep in touch.


Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator

Her responce to me and the e letter I sent.

[huntrights]

The NRA had an article on this as well:

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2012/contact-your-us-senators-and-urge-their-support-of-s-3525-the-sportsmen's-act-of-2012.aspx


The procedural motion appears to have passed 84 to 7.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/s200

Thanks to all who took the immediate action needed.  The procedural motion vote actually took place on 9/22/12.

[csaaphill]

I want to ask, since from what I read this legislation would open up lands for public use?
What does that mean exactly?
Does it take some private lands and open them for public use, and would that hopefully entail South Eastern Washington too?
As I posted elsewhere My area is dreadfully in need of public access so I support something like this.
I noticed Patty Murrey did not vote on this but Cantwell voted Yes! so kudos to her.
I still don't trust her though; neither one, for I believe each have voted for Gun ctrl before.
Anyways would be a good tool against the antis on this and I vote hell Ya!!!

[pianoman9701]

I want to ask, since from what I read this legislation would open up lands for public use?
What does that mean exactly?
Does it take some private lands and open them for public use, and would that hopefully entail South Eastern Washington too?
As I posted elsewhere My area is dreadfully in need of public access so I support something like this.
I noticed Patty Murrey did not vote on this but Cantwell voted Yes! so kudos to her.
I still don't trust her though; neither one, for I believe each have voted for Gun ctrl before.
Anyways would be a good tool against the antis on this and I vote hell Ya!!!

This is about public land use and keeping anti-hunters from closing it off to hunter/fisherman access through restrictive bills that take specific parcels or broad categories of land (like BLM land), and designate them in such a way as to limit or eliminate hunting.

[huntrights]

I want to ask, since from what I read this legislation would open up lands for public use?
What does that mean exactly?
Does it take some private lands and open them for public use, and would that hopefully entail South Eastern Washington too?
As I posted elsewhere My area is dreadfully in need of public access so I support something like this.
I noticed Patty Murrey did not vote on this but Cantwell voted Yes! so kudos to her.
I still don't trust her though; neither one, for I believe each have voted for Gun ctrl before.
Anyways would be a good tool against the antis on this and I vote hell Ya!!!

Quote from NRA-ILA: "This bill is a compilation of 19 bipartisan bills important to the sportsmen's community."

Here is the text of the bill:

(http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:S.3525:)

[pianoman9701]

The NRA had an article on this as well:

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2012/contact-your-us-senators-and-urge-their-support-of-s-3525-the-sportsmen's-act-of-2012.aspx


The procedural motion appears to have passed 84 to 7.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/s200

Thanks to all who took the immediate action needed.  The procedural motion vote actually took place on 9/22/12.

Do we have a list of the 7 who voted against the procedural motion?

[Slenk]

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00200

You will find the whole list here.

[pianoman9701]

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00200

You will find the whole list here.

Thank you. At least Cantwell Voted for it. Murray didn't vote. Must've been at lunch with her glorious leader planning for his re-election party in Hawaii.

[huntrights]

Here is another source for the voting record:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/112-2012/s200

There were a few "surprising" NAY votes.  I have sent a communication to one of them asking, "Why the NAY vote?".  We'll see if I get an answer.  One (D) site (http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/09/19/republican-objection-to-s-3525-the-sportsmen-act/)suggested that some of the (R) NAYs happened because there were some additional changes/amendments they (R) wanted to add; they wanted a little more time.  It may be that S.3525 wasn't as good as they thought it could be.

It is important to note that it is good that this procedural motion passed.  We depend on organizations like the NRA, NSSF, USSA, and SCI to let us know what we should support and the actions we need to take immediately.  The immediate action that some of you took was important and timely; thank you. This forum string was posted on 9/21/12, and asked for immediate action.  The Senate conducted their procedural motion vote the next day (9/22/12).

This is a good example of when we see these types of "URGENT" notices, we all need to act immediately and pass the word along to your email list of hunters immediately as well.  In this case, delaying the action for a few days would have missed the very important window of opportunity to get your message to your Senators.  Now I also understand why the NSSF said to "call" your Senators; conventional email or snail mail would not have been received by them soon enough.

All of that said, we now must watch for S.3525 to come up for a vote in the Senate after the November elections.  Those elections are not far off, so we should write our Senators to urge them to vote FOR S.3525, when it comes up for a vote.

[pianoman9701]

Here's the response from my US Congresswman, the incredible and awesome Jaime Herrera Buetler. :

Dear Mr. Wallace,

Knowing of your interest in Sportsmen activities, I am writing to provide you with an update on legislation before Congress that I support.

One important issue is the protection of public lands for recreational activities like fishing, hiking, hunting, and riding.  Growing up, I enjoyed outdoor recreation with my own family, and I want future generations to have those same opportunities.  I recently voted for, and the House passed, The Sportsmen's Heritage Act (HR 4089).  This bill is aimed at putting vital protections on hunting, fishing, and shooting activities by combining multiple other pieces of legislation, including:


The Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act- Directs Federal land management agencies to expand and enhance hunting, shooting, and fishing activities on Federal land.  It also establishes an "Open until Closed" policy for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service (USFS), which means that public lands under these agencies is open for those specific recreational activities unless specific, targeted closures are necessitated by sound facts and evidence.


The Recreational Shooting Protection Act- This act requires congressional approval for any regulation to limit shooting on national monument lands by BLM.  It also encourages BLM to act in a way that supports recreational shooting on the land they manage.


HR 1558, an Amendment to the Toxic Substance Control Act- This amendment protects traditional ammunition and fishing tackle from regulations imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  A petition presented to the EPA has asked for a ban on all lead ammunition and tackle. Yet there are currently no scientific studies demonstrating adverse effects on wildlife populations. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has stated these items present no threat to human health.


The Polar Bear Conservation and Fairness Act- This bill amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to simply allow for importation permits to be issued for polar bear trophies that were taken before the polar bear was listed as threatened by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Currently, many who legally hunted polar bears in Canada prior to their listing as an endangered species are prohibited from bringing parts of those bears back into the US.


Going forward, I am committed to protecting the rights of Sportsmen and others who wish to responsibly enjoy our public lands. The Sportsmen's Heritage Act will clarify Congress' intent to federal land management agencies and protect sportsmen from future burdensome regulations that government bureaucracies may impose.  I am proud to support this legislation and will continue to work on behalf of Sportsmen's rights.  I invite you to contact my office if you have any questions regarding federal issues and my work on behalf of Southwest Washington.


Sincerely,

Jaime Herrera Beutler
Member of Congress

[BOWHUNTER45]

sweet !

[pianoman9701]

And, not only that, but she's a wicked babe!

[csaaphill]

well I still suport it just woudel like to see some access in my area opened up.