Rep. Shuler Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Create Safe Public Shooting Ranges

On Friday U.S. Representative Heath Shuler, joined by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and 41 other original cosponsors, introduced bipartisan legislation that would help states construct and maintain safe public shooting ranges. H.R.3065, the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, would allow states flexibility to allocate a greater proportion of their federal Pittman-Robertson wildlife funds to create accessible recreational shooting facilities.

"Opportunities for Americans to participate in recreational shooting and target practice have dwindled on both private and public lands in the past few decades," said Rep. Shuler. "My bill would help reverse this trend by giving states greater flexibility to use money they already have to build and maintain public ranges for hunters and sportsmen to shoot. This will mean better, safer facilities and more opportunities for people in Western North Carolina and across the country to take up shooting sports."

States are allocated funding for wildlife purposes under the 1937 Wildlife Restoration Act. The 10% excise tax on guns and ammunition created by the Act is distributed to states for a variety of activities, including managing game populations, restoring habitat, and educating hunters. Currently, however, the Act contains restrictions which limit states' ability to use Pittman-Robertson funds to develop and expand shooting ranges. H.R.3065 would address these issues by:

* Increasing the amount of money states can contribute from their allotted Pittman-Robertson funds from 75 to 90 percent of the cost to improve or construct a public target range. This would reduce local and state matching requirements from 25 percent to 10 percent;

* Allowing the Pittman-Robertson funds allotted to a state to remain available and accrue for five fiscal years for use in acquiring land for, expanding or constructing a public target range. Under current law, states must use these funds within one year;

* Limiting the legal liability exposure to the federal land management agencies regarding the management and use of federal land for target practice or marksmanship training; and

* Encouraging federal land management agencies to cooperate with state and local authorities to maintain target ranges on federal land so as to encourage their continued use.

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