GOP Gun Bill Loses Support Amid Outrage From Hunting, Conservation Groups

[sarisataka]

GOP Gun Bill Loses Support Amid Outrage From Hunting, Conservation Groups

Five House Republicans have withdrawn as co-sponsors of a bill that aims to repeal an excise tax on firearms and ammunition which for decades has served as a financial pillar of the American model of wildlife conservation.

“Sometimes you look at a bill and, you know, it’s explained to be a positive and you look at it a little bit further and you change your mind,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told HuffPost about his decision to un-sponsor the legislation.

The legislation, dubbed the RETURN Act (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) was introduced last month by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and dozens of other House Republicans. It takes aim at a tax that gun and ammunition manufacturers and importers have paid for more than a century. Since the passage of the bipartisan Pittman-Robertson Act in 1937, money collected through the tax — 11% on long guns, ammunition and archery equipment; 10% on handguns — has been distributed to states to pay for wildlife management and research, habitat conservation, land acquisition and hunter education.

Despite that long history and the popularity of the Pittman-Robertson Act among hunters, anglers, conservationists and the firearm industry, Clyde and other sponsors have painted the tax as an assault on the Second Amendment.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-bill-pittman-robertson-gun-tax-withdraw-support_n_62e1930de4b0c60a56648a99

It is unusual to see a tax that is popular among those who pay it. I have heard several times however that outdoors people, eg hunters and anglers, contribute far more to conservation efforts than those that oppose such activities.

[LakeArenal]

1. FWIW Glen Grothman is one of the most odious members across the House.

[SoCalDavidS]

2. We Need To Accept The Fact That America Will NEVER Have Meaningful Gun Laws

It's who we've been.

It's who we are.

It's who we always shall be.

[sanatanadharma]

3. Guns, taxed to benefit wildlife lands, but nothing for repairing the bloodied human landscape

Increase the tax and add human life and neighborhood conservation to the list of needs to be researched, educated, managed and conserved.

[KPN]

4. There's conservation efforts, and then there's

environmental conservation and protection efforts. Sportsmen (hunters and fishermen) pay taxes in support of game and fish for personal harvest. They do pay a lot for that. When it comes to overall ecosystem conservation, not so much. While it’s laudable that they support fish and game management efforts so willingly, I would say that ecosystem management/conservation goes well beyond fish and game and is far more important in the larger picture. Sportsmen who are Rs don’t typically support ecosystem management/ conservation goals to anywhere near the degree they do fish and game. At least that’s my experience having worked almost 40 years in natural resources management.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

5. Gun manufacturers supporting this tax?...cause more wildlife means more to kill..with guns.

It’s not conservation, it’s part of the the lifecycle of the Gun industry.

[KPN]

7. I don't disagree. All they are conserving is targets.

[DashOneBravo]

6. In our state 100%

Of the hunting and fishing licenses go to Wildlife Agency.

[KPN]

8. I think that's pretty standard. My point is it's

a very limited form of “conservation” and extends principally to game species.