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INTERAGENCY RESPONSE HELPED VISITING BRUINS IN FORT COLLINS

December 10, 2007

INTERAGENCY RESPONSE HELPED VISITING BRUINS IN FORT COLLINS

Thanks to the combined efforts of the Fort Collins Police and the Poudre Fire Authority, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) was successful in relocating 3 bears from the city late this summer.

On August 8, a 12-15 year old sow was treed off Vine Ave and Shields Street across from an elementary school.  August 18 brought a yearling cub down to the Avery House at Meldrum and Magnolia Streets during the New West Fest.  And on August 28, a 4 year old sow weighing 150-160 lbs. was found in Rolland Moore Park, west of Shields.  All three bears were monitored by the DOW and the Fort Collins Police, and helped down from the trees with the generous help of the Poudre Fire Authority and their bucket truck.

“We appreciate the efforts of all involved, especially the expertise of the Division of Wildlife.  The best news is that the bears are safe and in their natural habitat, said Fort Collins Police Chief, Dennis Harrison.

“When bears come into neighborhoods, there is a lot of excitement and onlookers who can inadvertently cause the bears to move into even more difficult locations,” said Dave Clarkson, Area Wildlife Manager, Fort Collins.  “Safely capturing and lowering a bear from a tree is a complex process, requiring quick but solid decisions and actions ranging from managing the safety of the public in the area, to concern for the bear’s welfare, to the safety of the officers and firefighters up in the bucket truck.  The collaboration, planning and communication between the three professions are essential.  The smooth teamwork and communication on the ground between the firefighters, police officers and wildlife managers has been impressive.  That teamwork has resulted in safe, successful relocation of these animals back to more appropriate habitat.”

All three bears were ear tagged and moved 60+ miles away from town in the hopes that they will remain there.  They were encouraged to hightail it out of the traps and discouraged from associating humans with a welcome with the use of non-lethal rubber buckshot and yells.

Chief Tom DeMint of the Poudre Fire Authority added, “We enjoyed working with the cooperative crews of the DOW.  In addition, while working as a team, we were able to determine the safest plan of action for the bear and the public.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife thanks all of the ‘Bear Aware’ citizens of Fort Collins for helping to protect our wildlife resource!  For more information on how to help bears stay wild, see our website: Living with Wildlife in Bear Country.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is the state agency responsible for managing wildlife and its habitat, as well as providing wildlife related recreation. The Division is funded through hunting and fishing license fees, federal grants and Colorado Lottery proceeds through Great Outdoors Colorado.
 

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

Posted in Education, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, News, Uncategorized | Comments Off on INTERAGENCY RESPONSE HELPED VISITING BRUINS IN FORT COLLINS

Colorado: Bureau of Land Management

December 10, 2007

All those that hunt or fish in Colorado please take note.

SOURCE: NRA Newsletter 

COLORADO:  BLM Plans to Close Canyons of the Ancients to Recreational Shooting:  The Bureau of Land Management has released a draft management plan for the 164,000-acre Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in southwest Colorado.  All four management alternatives would close the entire Monument to recreational shooting.  The BLM cites vandalism of cultural and natural resources and visitor safety as the reasons for closure.  For more information about the plan, please go to http://www.blm.gov/rmp/canm/.  Comments from the public are being accepted until January 25, 2008.  It is critical that gun owners and sportsmen take an active role in this process!

BLM Plan Will Set Game Retrieval Restrictions:  The Bureau of Land Management has released a draft management plan for travel routes on lands it administers within San Luis Valley, Colorado.  The proposal will limit the retrieval of game off designated routes except to a perpendicular distance of 300 ft. from the edge of a route.  Comments on the plan are being accepted until December 31.  The document can be viewed at http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/slvplc/Travel_Management.html.  For further information, please contact Mark Swinney, Project Lead, by phone at (719) 655-2547, or by e-mail at mswinney@co.blm.gov.  Once again, it is critical that gun owners and sportsmen take an active role in this process!

Posted in Education, Gun Control, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Local Politics Colorado, News, Politics, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Colorado: Bureau of Land Management

Northeast region Sportsman’s Advisory Group

November 18, 2007

buck-in-snow.jpgNORTHEAST REGION’S SPORTSMAN’S ADVISORY GROUP MEETING NOVEMBER 19

Hunters and anglers interested in learning more about issues facing Colorado’s wildlife are invited to attend a public meeting Nov. 19. The northeast region Sportsman’s Advisory Group will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the Division of Wildlife (DOW) Hunter Education Building at 6060 Broadway in Denver.

Since their inception three years ago, Sportsman’s Advisory Groups have worked with the DOW on wildlife management topics such as license fees and the Colorado Habitat Stamp Program.

Topics discussed at this meeting will include an update on shooting ranges on the Front Range, OHV legislation, and other issues of interest to sportsmen.

There are four regional Sportsmen’s Advisory Groups. “The Colorado Division of Wildlife is involved in many facets of outdoor recreation which affect a wide range of the public on the Front Range,” said Kathi Green, acting regional manager for the northeast. “This meeting offers a great opportunity for us to update our constituents on wildlife issues that we are working on, as well as hear concerns from those who attend.”

Questions about the meeting can be directed to Jennifer Churchill at 303-291-7234.
 
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is the state agency responsible for managing wildlife and its habitat, as well as providing wildlife related recreation. The Division is funded through hunting and fishing license fees, federal grants and Colorado Lottery proceeds through Great Outdoors Colorado.
 
 
 

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

This program is one that seems to work pretty well. Be there if you ca!

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Posted in Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Local Politics Colorado, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Northeast region Sportsman’s Advisory Group

577 TRex

November 15, 2007

This video shows a lot of things, and not just the power 577 T Rex caliber. Admittedly from what little I have been able to find out about it, it appears to be one heck of a bruiser.

Now please notice a few things. Feet are placed in a very narrow stance, and shoulder position is atrocious, as is the over all line up with regards to the target area, as in posture.

How many other things reveal very poor marksmanship skills here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQJSZs-euZU

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Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Gun Control, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Men's Issues, Stupid is as Stupid Does, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Poachers Nabbed

November 11, 2007

BAYFIELD RESIDENTS HELP IN POACHING ARREST

Some alert residents helped the Colorado Division of Wildlife nab two poachers in Bayfield on Nov. 8.
 
Wayne Anderson of Colorado Springs and a 17-year-old male juvenile were arrested and charged with hunting in a careless manner and illegal possession of wildlife by the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Additional charges are pending. Both individuals are required to appear in court, could pay up to $2,000 in fines and face suspension of their hunting and fishing privileges.
 
About 10 a.m. Nov. 8, some Bayfield residents saw a man in a field near a developed area just south of U.S. Highway 160 near the Shell gas station. Witnesses reported that the man shot a large 6 x 6 mule deer buck that was walking across a light-industrial lot. The buck is one of several “Bayfield bucks” that live in an around Bayfield for much of the year. The men then left the scene.
 
Witnesses followed the men’s vehicle, wrote down the license plate number and a vehicle description and then called the Bayfield Marshal’s office. Bayfield officers located the men a short time later and held them until DOW officers arrived.
 
“This incident really shows how much the Division of Wildlife relies on citizens and other law enforcement agencies to help solve crimes against wildlife,” Patt Dorsey, DOW Area Wildlife Manager said.
 
Dorsey said this case is similar to the Greenmount Cemetery deer case in Durango that occurred in 2005. In both cases highly-visible big buck deer were treasured by the public and the public passed along information to DOW that helped solve the cases.
 
“If law enforcement can get good information there’s a great chance we can apprehend violators. There’s no doubt it would have been more difficult to make this case without the help of alert citizens,” Dorsey said.
 
Both witnesses were hunters that were alert and immediately contacted law enforcement. “Unfortunately, it’s not the good guys like our witnesses that make the news,” Dorsey said. “Poor hunter behavior makes the rest of the hunter community look bad.”
 
While poaching occurs year around in Colorado, it is most significant in the late fall when mule deer enter their breeding stage and the antlers of buck deer are fully developed. At this time of year deer are often in highly-visible areas and are gathered in groups.
 
If you seen any suspicious activity along roads where deer are nearby, please contact the Colorado Division of Wildlife at (970) 375-0855, Operation Game Thief at 1-877-265-6648; local law enforcement or the Colorado State Patrol.

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

I am so sick of these thieves of the public resource! Thumbs up to the people of Bayfield, Colorado!

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Local Politics Colorado, News, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

AK 47, AR 15 or Mosin Nagant…

November 8, 2007

Stolen from Neil over at Hunters Glen! Enjoy! 🙂
 

Stuff you know if you have an AK-47, or an AR-15, or a Mosin Nagant:
____________ ________
AK: It works though you have never cleaned it. Ever.
AR: You have $9 per ounce special non-detergent synthetic Teflon
infused oil for cleaning.
Mosin: It was last cleaned in Berlin in 1945.
____________ _________ ____
AK: You are able to hit the broad side of a barn only from inside the
barn.
AR: You are able to hit the broad side of a barn from 600 meters.
Mosin: You can hit the farm from two counties over.
____________ _________ ______
AK: Cheap mags are fun to buy.
AR: Cheap mags melt.
Mosin: What’s a mag?
____________ _________ _______
AK: Your safety can be heard from 300 meters away.
AR: You can silently flip off the safety with your finger on the
trigger.
Mosin: What’s a safety?
____________ _________ ________
AK: Your rifle comes with a cheap nylon sling.
AR: Your rifle has a 9 point stealth tactical suspension system.
Mosin: Your rifle has dog collars.
____________ _________ _______
AK: Your bayonet makes a good wire cutter.
AR: Your bayonet is actually a pretty good steak knife.
Mosin: Your bayonet is longer than your leg.
____________ _________ ___
AK: You can put a .30″ hole through 12″ of oak, if you can hit it.
AR: You can put one hole in a paper target at 100 meters with 30
rounds.
Mosin: You can knock down everyone else’s target with the shock wave
of your bullet going downrange.
____________ _________ ___
AK: When out of ammo your rifle will nominally pass as a club.
AR: When out of ammo, your rifle makes a great wiffle bat.
Mosin: When out of ammo, your rifle makes a supreme war club, pike,
boat oar, tent pole, or firewood.
____________ _________ _________
AK: Recoil is manageable, even fun.
AR: What’s recoil?
Mosin: Recoil is often used to relocate shoulders thrown out by the
previous shot.
____________ _________ _______
AK: Your sight adjustment goes to “10”, and you’ve never bothered
moving it.
AR: Your sight adjustment is incremented in fractions of minute of
angle.
Mosin: Your sight adjustment goes to 2 miles and you’ve actually
tried it.
____________ _________ _______
AK: Your rifle can be used by any two bit nation’s most illiterate
conscripts to fight elite forces worldwide.
AR: Your rifle is used by elite forces worldwide to fight two bit
nations’ most illiterate conscripts.
Mosin: Your rifle has fought against itself and won every time.
____________ _________ _________
AK: Your rifle won some revolutions.
AR: Your rifle won the Cold War.
Mosin: Your rifle won a pole vault event.
____________ _________ _______
AK: You paid $350.
AR: You paid $900.
Mosin: You paid $59.95
____________ _________ _______
AK: You buy cheap ammo by the case.
AR: You lovingly reload precision crafted rounds one by one.
Mosin: You dig your ammo out of a farmer’s field in Ukraine and it
works just fine.
____________ _________ _____
AK: You can intimidate your foe with the bayonet mounted.
AR: Your foes laugh when you mount your bayonet.
Mosin: You can bayonet your foe on the other side of the river
without leaving the comfort of your foxhole.
____________ _________ ________
AK: Service life, 50 years.
AR: Service life, 40 years.
Mosin: Service life, 100 years, and counting.
____________ _________ ________
AK: It’s easier to buy a new rifle when you want to change cartridge
sizes.
AR: You can change cartridge sizes with the push of a couple of pins
and a new upper.
Mosin: You believe no real man would dare risk the ridicule of his
friends by suggesting there is anything but 7.62x54r.
____________ _________ _______
AK: You can repair your rifle with a big hammer and a swift kick.
AR: You can repair your rifle by taking it to a certified gunsmith,
it’s under warranty!
Mosin: If your rifle breaks, you buy a new one.
____________ _________ _____
AK: You consider it a badge of honor when you get your handguards to
burst into flames.
AR: You consider it a badge of honor when you shoot a sub-MOA 5 shot
group.
Mosin: You consider it a badge of honor when you cycle 5 rounds
without the aid of a 2×4.
____________ _________ __
AK: After a long day the range you relax by watching “Red Dawn”.
AR: After a long day at the range you relax by watching “Blackhawk
Down”.
Mosin: After a long day at the range you relax by visiting the
chiropractor, then watching “Enemy at the Gates“.
____________ _________ ___
AK: After cleaning your rifle you have a strong urge for a stiff shot
of Vodka.
AR: After cleaning your rifle you have a strong urge for hotdogs and
apple pie.
Mosin: After cleaning your rifle you have a strong urge for
shishkabob.
____________ _________ _______
AK: You can accessorize you rifle with a new muzzle brake or a nice
stock set.
AR: Your rifle’s accessories are eight times more valuable than your
rifle.
Mosin: Your rifle’s accessory is a small tin can with a funny lid,
but it’s buried under an apartment building somewhere in Budapest.
____________ _________ _____
AK: Your rifle’s finish is varnish and paint.
AR: Your rifle’s finish is Teflon and high tech polymers.
Mosin: Your rifle’s finish is low grade shellac, cosmoline and a
paste made from Olga’s ground up toenail clippings.
____________ _________ _______
AK: Your wife tolerates your autographed framed picture of Mikhail
Kalashnikov.
AR: Your wife tolerates your autographed framed picture of Eugene
Stoner.
Mosin: Cameras had not even been invented to photograph the young
Sergei Mosin.
____________ _________ ________
AK: Late at night you sometimes have to fight the urge to hold your
rifle over your head and shout “Wolverines! ”
AR: Late at night you sometimes have to fight the urge to clear your
house, slicing the pie from room to room.
Mosin: Late at night, you sometimes have to fight the urge to dig a
fighting trench in the the yard to sleep in.

Posted in Contemporary Quotes, Humor, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Uncategorized | 38 Comments »

Bears, flat tires, and Big Deer

November 4, 2007

buck-in-snow.jpgI don’t remember what year it was, 1988 or 89 somewhere there about. I went out to the Pieance basin, near Meeker Colorado during the third season. I had a Buck Tag, and an extra draw Doe License as well. Richard had a Buck license, and Robert had drawn a Doe Tag. All of us also had bought over the counter Bull Elk licenses as well.

We were in Roberts Dodge pick up heading up north of Meeker on Pieance Creek road, and had just passed the sign that announced that this was winter home to the largest migratory deer herd in the world. When suddenly the truck started to swerve…. Well guys, we got a flat. Robert was able to control it well enough that we didn’t end up in the creek at least. We piled out and began the task of tire changing in the snow that had started to fall a short time before. It began to get almost surreal, the early dusk. the snowfall, and gray shapes moving quietly all around us as we worked. There were deer everywhere. Some would stop and look at the crazy humans seemingly without a care. That task finished we headed up the road, and turned west at Ryan’s Gulch road.

We turned off and headed up a dirt road that had been made during the failed shale oil project days, past a windmill that fed a stock pond and rounded the top of the hill where we would again set up our deer camp, as we had been doing for so many years. Our hunting friends from Michigan were already there getting settled in about fifty or so yards away.

I was pounding in a tent peg when there was a sudden yell from their campsite that bordered on a scream. “Bear! Bear! Big G-D DAMN BEAR!” Now, you have to understand that most bears were already in their winter digs and fast asleep, not to mention that bears in this area were pretty rare. As I looked over at the commotion Robert was getting his rifle out and loading it in what might be called Rapid Order Drill… And I saw the bear, it was big, at least for that part of the state, about a four hundred pound animal! It was running for all it was worth to get away from the people that were screaming for all that they were worth. It ran right past us, through the camp that we were in the process of setting up and disappeared over the hill. All this took perhaps five seconds. I think that our collective blood pressures returned to normal about two hours later…

The next morning was opening day, and I had left camp about an hour before dawn. I position myself  just below the crest of a hill overlooking a small gulch that I had seen deer and elk pass through several times over the years. I set the model seven hundred to my side, sprayed myself all over with no scent goop, and then rested the rifle across my knees, and waited. The false dawn was in full swing as a small herd of does came through the draw that led to the path that the deer used in the gulch. I checked my wristwatch as I watched them. Ten more minutes to legal shooting time. The deer passed by, apparently unaware of my presence, and went on down the path. I removed the covers from my Burris six power scope, and then wrapped my arm into a relaxed hasty sling. That would allow me to raise the rifle into a sling supported sitting position without very much movement, and I worked the bolt of the rifle, chambering a Federal 140 grain cartridge into the 270, and set the safety. Then I waited. It was legal shooting time now, and I could hear soft hoof beats in the distance. I heard a shot from some distance off, probably a mile away. The hoof beats became louder, the deer were on notice now, and would be wary.

I don’t know which was louder, or more rapid, the hoof beats, or my hearts pounding. But suddenly, over the rise of the saddle came a small herd of young bucks, they slowed as they surveyed the ravine that they were about to enter, but were still moving. The rifle came to my shoulder in a well learned routine, scope to my eye, all in a silent and fluid motion. The cross hairs of the scope found the spot on the deers chest, the rifle cracked, the buck jumped once, and then tried to catch up with his buddies that already had after burners lit up. He made it about three bounds, and fell. It was a clean kill, with no needless suffering. I said a prayer thanking God for that, and for the harvest. Then waited fifteen minutes or so, and went over to my fallen quarry. He had lived about three years, and would be tender. His antlers were well matched and were close to twenty by twenty inches, a very good specimen of the Mule Deer genus.

Later in the week, I also harvested a doe, and a rag-horn Bull Elk. For some reason though, that young buck is what stands out in my memories of the hunt that started with a flat tire, and a hair raising encounter with a huge bear that was more frightened of us than we were of it!

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Posted in Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Men's Issues, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Colorado asking for Hunters help

October 15, 2007

HUNTERS ASKED TO SUBMIT TEETH OF MULE DEER BUCKS FROM GMUS 54, 61, 62 AND 80

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is asking hunters for help this season with a research project focusing on mule deer in selected areas of southwest Colorado. Hunters who participate will be entered into a drawing and could win a Weatherby .270 rifle that is being donated by the Mule Deer Foundation.
 
Big game managers in Gunnison, the San Luis Valley and Montrose would like to examine the age structure of mule deer bucks harvested in game management units 54, 61, 62 and 80.  The intent of this project is to evaluate how various management prescriptions are working in units with contrasting objectives.
 
Approximately 2,000 buck hunters should have received a mailing for this project, asking them to remove a middle incisor from the lower jaw of their harvested buck and to send it to the DOW.  The mailing also included a brief survey card and a pre-paid return envelope in which to submit the tooth.
 
“We’re making it as easy as we possibly can for hunters to return a tooth,” said Brandon Diamond, terrestrial biologist in Gunnison. “It looks like we had about a 10 percent response rate from the archery and muzzleloader hunters. We’d like to increase the return during the rifle seasons so we’re asking hunters to please participate in this project.”
 
Biologists are able to determine the age of an animal by laboratory analysis of cementum annuli in the tooth.  Hunters participating in this project also will be able to find out the age of their deer, with results likely being posted in the spring of 2008 on the DOW’s web site. 
 
“It doesn’t matter if a hunter harvests a big buck or a small buck, we need to get back as many teeth as we can,” Diamond said. “This information will help us learn more about our mule deer management prescriptions. This is a great chance for hunters to contribute to big game management in Colorado.”
 
To give hunters more incentive to send in the teeth, the Mule Deer Foundation is donating the rifle. All hunters who submit teeth will have their names entered in a drawing for the rifle. The drawing will take place in early December.
 
Game management units 61 and 62 are located west of Montrose; game management unit 80 is located southwest of Alamosa; and game management unit 54 is northwest of Gunnison.  Hunters are being asked to return teeth by Dec. 1, 2007.
 
Hunters can also drop teeth off at one of the DOW offices. Please, use the envelope that was provided. Gunnison DOW office: 300 New York Ave.; Montrose DOW office, 2300 S. Townsend Ave.; San Luis Valley DOW office, 0722 S. Road 1E in Monte Vista. 
 
Hunters with questions about this project can call Diamond at (970)641-7060. 
 

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to: http://wildlife.state.co.us.

My biggest Mule Deer buck was harvested in area 61 about 20 years ago.

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Posted in Education, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Men's Issues, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The animals had it coming « THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

October 10, 2007

The animals had it coming « THE TYGRRRR EXPRESS

Eric over at The Tygrrrr Express wrote a contrast comparison piece that was simply delightful in nature. Naturally, he took a bit of a beating for doing so. It comes with the territory in this politically correct day and age. He was mostly challenged by people that took the Morally Superior tact that so often makes Vegetarians believe that they hold the keys to Eminence in mind, body, and spirit.

I am very busy this week, and so will be delayed in fully commenting about these things. However, I surely will do so in the near future.

Well, now that I have some time…

I have found it just short of amazing over the years how various people claim to have moral superiority because they are from the anti hunting, and or vegetarian camp. Guess what? Human beings, are predators. They always have been, and always will be so. It is not simply something that is hard wired into our brains, it is also physiologically based. The eyes of the human being are spread apart, and impart binocular vision. Just as are the eyes of Lions, Tigers, Wolves and other predators. Prey animals tend to have eye spacing that allows to see in nearly all directions at once, the better to see and react to danger it is theorized.  Humans have within the digestive tract three digestive enzymes. Two break down animal proteins and fats very effectively. One, comparably inefficient enzyme breaks down plant matter. For optimal health humans need a balance of both basic nutrition sources.

As for those that hate hunters, and then attempt to heap upon them abuse of all sorts, I have this to say: The animals that you claim to love have in fact had more assistance in surviving, from hunters through taxes paid, and work donated than any other force on earth. Deny that, fine, just come up with the numbers and a reputable citation. Hunters use virtually all of any animal that they harvest wasting very little in the process. Please note that “Poachers” are criminals, not HUNTERS.  Hunters strive for clean kills, and do their best to minimize an animals suffering. Disagree? Fine, come up with any reputable code of ethics directed toward hunters that can be substantiated that states otherwise.

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Local Politics Colorado, Men's Issues, News, Politics, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Senator Coburn Successfully Blocks The McCarthy Bill

October 7, 2007

While Senator Coburn Successfully Blocks The McCarthy Bill…
Your activism has strengthened his hand!!!

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

“The American Legion, the nation’s largest wartime veterans’ service
organization, strongly opposes specific provisions of H.R. 2640… that
would unilaterally abrogate the rights of certain service-connected
disabled veterans to own firearms, a right guaranteed by the Second
Amendment.” — Statement by the American Legion, Sep. 27, 2007

First, there was Gun Owners of America and a myriad of state gun
rights organizations.

Then, the Military Order of the Purple Heart weighed in.

Now, we’ve heard from the American Legion.

The list of groups in opposition to HR 2640 — the Veterans
Disarmament Act — continues growing, even while Senators in our
nation’s capital are continuously being BOMBARDED by thousands
upon thousands of phone calls and e-mails from grassroots gun
owners like yourself.

In fact, your efforts have IMMENSELY STRENGTHENED the hand
of Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). In an article entitled, “Coburn’s
block may change strategy for gun bill,” a Capitol Hill-based
newspaper reported this morning that frustration is building over
Coburn’s “hold” on the legislation.

“We’ve tried to negotiate,” Schumer said, adding that talks with
Coburn are “‘not getting that far. We might have to bring it to a
vote.”

But the newspaper article in The Hill stated that taking a recorded vote
on the Veterans Disarmament Act could “complicate its initially strong
prospects” of passage. As reported in The Hill:

“The National Rifle Association (NRA) supports the bill, which its
board member and House Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) helped to craft, but the Gun Owners
of America (GOA) has backed Coburn and mobilized its grassroots
against the measure….

“Coburn also has objected to what he and the GOA — which dubbed
the bill the ‘Veterans Disarmament Act’ — believe is the risk of
inadvertently placing veterans treated for mental illness into the
background-check system, thus endangering their ability to buy a gun.

“The Military Order of the Purple Heart and the American Legion both
have backed Coburn’s effort.

“But GOA Executive Director Larry Pratt said his group remains
opposed to the background-check system in general, viewing it as an
infringement on the civil liberties and privacy of gun owners. ‘This
would be an objection we’d have even after all these [concerns of
Coburn’s] are taken care of,’ Pratt said.”

On a side note: The Hill mentioned that, “Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)
said he has received a high volume of contacts from constituents
alarmed about the bill’s effect on gun buyers’ rights.”

Other sources have told GOA that Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) has also
gotten hit with a tremendous outpouring of opposition against the bill.

You will remember that both Senators Crapo and Bunning were two
of the senators specifically listed in our most recent alert. GOA would
like to THANK ALL OF YOU for your activism and support. You
guys are doing a great job… keep up the good work!

[Oh, by the way, here’s a special note for you folks in Idaho. The
remainder of the Crapo quote in The Hill newspaper goes like this: “At
this point, I’m not holding the bill,” Crapo said. “But that
doesn’t mean I
won’t.”‘ Well, that’s a great first step, but Crapo needs to join
up with
Coburn in putting a “hold” on the Veterans Disarmament Act. Keep up
the pressure, guys.]

ACTION:

1. The American Legion is already taking heat for its opposition to this
bill, as the Veterans Administration is blasting them behind the scenes.
We know that a large percentage of you are members of the American
Legion. So PLEASE GO TO YOUR LOCAL LEGION HALLS and
encourage your fellow legionnaires to get involved (and perhaps even
start receiving GOA alerts). The national office needs to see that
grassroots legionnaires are behind them so that they will continue to
stand firm in the face of the heat they’re taking. If you need talking
points, see http://www.gunowners.org/netb.htm — which is the GOA
special section on the Veterans Disarmament Act (HR 2640).

2. Continue to keep contacting your senators via the Legislative Action
Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm on the GOA site.
The Hill newspaper says the Veterans Disarmament Act may come up
as early as next week. Coburn is pushing a package of
GOA-supported amendments that, taken together, will improve federal
law — making things better than they are now. Senators need to hear
that this bill is an abomination, and that it is IMPERATIVE that they
support ALL OF THE COBURN AMENDMENTS.

———- Pre-written letter ———-

Dear Senator:

Did you know that the American Legion and the Military Order of the
Purple Heart both oppose the Veterans Disarmament Act, sponsored
by Carolyn McCarthy in the House (HR 2640) and shepherded by
Chuck Schumer in the Senate?

Last week, the American Legion stated that it “strongly opposes
specific provisions of H.R. 2640… that would unilaterally abrogate the
rights of certain service-connected disabled veterans to own firearms,
a right guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

Senator Tom Coburn wants to offer a series of amendments to this
obnoxious bill. I hope that you will stand with Senator Coburn and
defend the constitutionally protected rights of all Americans. And by
“stand with,” I mean supporting ALL of Coburn’s amendments — not
just one or two.

Sincerely,

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Gun Control, Hunting Fishing and the Great Outdoors, Local Politics Colorado, Men's Issues, News, Politics, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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