February stinks. Well ok, I guess many folks are happy because there is Mardi Gras and King Cakes, but at least for hunters and this goes for fishermen too, February really does stink. It’s cold and dreary, the only water left by the low tide is muddy and almost every hunting season is shut down. Yeah sure, there’s snipe and the goose conservation order, but those aren’t exactly the most popular seasons. But it is a good time to take a look at the future of our hunting and shooting heritage as we get past the inauguration of a new president and administration.
And it hasn’t taken long for the American public to get the message from the incoming Obama administration. The nation saw a 24 percent increase in firearm purchaser background checks for the month of December 2008 (1,523,426 checks) over December 2007 (1,230,525 checks). That comes on the heels of a 42 percent rise in NICS checks for November 2008 that represents the highest number of checks in NICS history. And these numbers are indisputable proof that hunters and other 2nd amendment proponents are hunkering down for anticipated new gun bans to be proposed by incoming lawmakers.
It has, in fact, begun. The Brady Committee has already announced their legal opposition to Bush’s Executive Order to restore the right for state law to apply to concealed carry in federal parklands. California Senator Dianne Feinstein then published an op-ed piece criticizing the same measure and promising to have it overturned by the new Obama administration.
I believe the entire outdoor industry is about to find out there is no peaceful coexistence with the new administration. It appears focused and dedicated to the consolidation and application of power to anyone opposing them. This new administration will quickly let everyone know there’s a new rooster in the yard. Unfortunately for most of us hunters they will include a new onslaught of laws designed to severely restrict firearms ownership.
When that happens, it will drive a stake into a significant portion of the billion-dollar firearms industry. That industry, by the way, did not ask for, nor need bailout money.
That same industry also puts millions of tax dollars into conservation programs each year and provides a significant number of jobs at a time when unemployment is nearing record highs nationwide.
So, consequently, an unintended consequence of negative economic impact to the firearms industry caused by the anti-gun movement would be conservation. State and federal fish and wildlife agencies rely heavily on tax revenues from firearm, ammunition and hunting license sales.
When and not “if” the anti-gun showdown begins as industry leaders are predicting, it may be time to remind our legislators that a billion dollar industry will pay a price that will trickle down to impact our natural resources drastically and for many years to come.
This new administration says its number one objective is the economy. So then is attempting to destroy an industry that need no government support or intervention and is providing jobs across the country sending a clear message that they are really concentrating on ideology rather than fixing the economy?
Of course it wouldn’t be the first indication that Obama isn’t really living up to all those campaign promises. If he and his administration go after our guns, we supporters of the 2
nd Amendment should be a repeat of the words made famous by fellow Louisianan and former President Clinton advisor James Carville, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
