Boost in gun & ammo sales helps wildlife restoration & management

[SteveM]

The recent boom in gun and ammo sales has an important beneficial "side effect:" increased funding for wildlife restoration and management. According to Lone Star Outdoor News, using information from the National Shooting Sports Foundation " Firearms and ammunition excise tax receipts at $109.8 million in the first quarter of 2009 -- up 43 PERCENT OVER A YEAR AGO." (my emphasis)

These taxes go to a variety of outdoor uses, including habitat restoration and wildlife management.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?query=firearms+excise+taxes&s_it=client_searchbox

www.LSONews.com (October 23, '09 issue)

These excise taxes have been with us in some form since the 1930s, and have been integral in preserving the environment and enabling citizens to use our natural resources in a sustainable way. Considering the poor funding provided to Texas Parks & Wildlife by the legislature here, the state's share of these taxes is essential.

Note: the tax does not discern between "sporting" weapons and target and home defense weapons and the munitions they use.

[old mark]

1. Part of this also goes to funding state and federal conservation

projects or whatever they are called now - wildlife areas,etc.
The anti-government RW "revolutionaries" supporting the government through taxes.
Only in America-even the revolution is taxed.

mark

[tabatha]

2. That is not all bad!

[spin]

3. I have no fear of Obama banning certain weapons...

or taxing ammo so high that only the rich can afford it.

But I have to admit that I am guilty of buying more ammo than I usually would because the increased sale of ammo has created shortages. If I find some ammo on the store shelf that I might use in the future, I'll pick it up now rather than wait until just before I plan to go to the range.

Therefore, I am helping to prolong the shortage. I wonder how many other shooters do the same.

At least I am doing some good for wildlife management.

[Euromutt]

10. Mea culpa

I wouldn't say I'm hoarding, exactly, but I'll acknowledge I've expanded my stockpile of target ammo so that, in the event that I find time and money to take a class, I will not be dependent on being able to find ammo in the store in the week leading up to it.

[Hoopla Phil]

4. K and R

[formercia]

5. When people shoot at each other,Wildlife is the beneficiary. n/t

[gorfle]

6. Or at anything, for that matter. n/t

[oneshooter]

7. The tax is, I believe, 11%. N/T

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SteveM]

9. When they catch fish, as well (nt)

[benEzra]

11. I do wish some of that money went toward shooting ranges, though

instead of exclusively toward hunting and game management as it is here in NC.

When I lived in Florida, the Pittman-Roberts funds were used for both game management AND construction/maintenance of shooting ranges, as it should be.

[SteveM]

12. Yeah, apparently it is a state option. Here in Austin we have

one indoor shooting range (100 yds of dimly-lit concrete hall), and one open-to-the-public outdoor range -- about 45 minutes out of town. I don't know of any management area, wildlife refuge, National Forest, etc. with a shooting range. Thanks to the extreme rightist Rick Perry and his gang of gopers, the acreage for walk-on small game has shrunk by nearly half. If they had their way, the GOP would (in the name of privatization) Europeanize hunting, with only the wealthy able to afford the sport.

Rick Perry is the best thing animal rightists have going.