WAcoyotehunter,
Thanks for the feedback and actually looking at some of the documents. However, I would like to point out a couple of my observations.
There was a recommendation to prohibit the carrying of weapons; however, existing laws prevented them from pursuing that path. Now their current proposal is to prevent you (us) from using the weapons we are allowed to carry; a bit of a back-door approach to achieving their objective in my opinion.
Regarding the reference to garbage being dumped in these areas; yes, it does happen. I have witnessed illegal dumping and have come across many sites of illegal dumping in Arizona; those that I witnessed dumping illegally (not hunters or shooters) immediately picked up their mess when I pointed out the error in their ways. I have also seen the unfortunate occurrence of illegal dumping sites in Washington. My family and I have been involved in some of the volunteer clean-up efforts in our (Washington) National Forests. We did clean up some shell casings at informal target shooting areas, but I can honestly say the vast majority of garbage we picked up was not left behind by those target shooters; most of the illegal dumping was done by other people that were too lazy and irresponsible to take their garbage to the garbage dump or to pay for regular garbage pickup from their home. The majority of the garbage found was dumped at the sides of the roads and over steep hillsides. The garbage included things such as old engine blocks, car batteries, bed mattresses, piles of debris from home construction projects, old broken doors, etc.; none of which were used as targets. The guilty individuals tend to be a few members of the general public that have no respect for our environment, NOT the hunters and shooters who are generally very respectful of our environment.
There is always room for negotiations and compromise in these matters, but unfortunately the public does not always get the full story in a timely manner from the people/agencies pushing for the restrictions. I have seen this happen in our state also. Below is an excerpt from the NRA-ILA article:
“The BLM is justifying its decision to close shooters out of 128,000 acres of public land because it claims that shooting is a “resource-harming” activity. At the same time, the agency will allow other activities to continue, like camping and grazing, that clearly have more impact on the environment. The justification is contained in Appendix I to the decision; a document not available at the time the draft plan was available for public review and comment. As NRA’s protest letter states, “BLM backfilled the evidentiary support for banning shooting” and the public should have had the opportunity to review and comment on the document. Further, the NRA challenges the final decision as not complying with BLM’s own Federal Land Policy and Management Act which requires the agency to perform the required balancing of multiple uses to show, specifically in this case, that the benefit of prohibiting target shooting in the monument outweighs the substantial benefits of target shooting to the American people.”
I encourage all participants in this forum to read the supporting documents for any of the many controversial subjects that appear in the forum. Each of us needs to judge for ourselves where we stand on any issue, but we should do so from a position of being informed. We all pick our battles and obviously don’t have the time to jump in on all threats to our freedoms to hunt, fish, and to recreate in the outdoors. The primary issue that I have observed is that many people don’t know these threats exist until it is too late; that is why it is important to get the word out there for all to see. This forum can be an excellent way to do that.
Thank you again for reading some of the BLM documents and commenting on this post.
