A Review of HR 4089 – Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012

By Glen Wunderlich

Known as the Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012, HR 4089 has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and, if it continues on its path to becoming law, it may be the most important piece of legislation on behalf of sportsmen and women in decades.   H.R. 4089 is actually the compilation of four bills, all designed to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting:

H.R. 1558 amends the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to prevent this (and future) administrations from using the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to eliminate the rights of hunters, shooters and anglers to use “traditional ammunition and fishing tackle”. In essence, the bill clarifies the EPA’s lack of authority when it comes to regulating, shot, bullets, and other ammunition components or sport fishing components.

H.R. 3440 the “Recreational Shooting Protection Act” prevents a ban on recreational shooting on BLM lands nationwide. Further, it directs the BLM to manage national monument land in a way that “supports, promotes, and enhances recreational shooting”.

H.R. 2834 the “Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act recognizes the rightful place of recreational hunting, fishing and shooting on Federal lands; it supports Executive Order 13443, directs Federal land management agencies to facilitate the expansion and enhancement of hunting on Federal lands; ensures sound scientific management of wildlife and habitat; establishes an “open unless closed” policy for recreational hunting, fishing and shooting on lands managed by the US Forest Service and the BLM.

The fourth bill, H.R. 991, amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act by authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to issue importation permits to hunters for polar bear trophies taken before the polar bear was designated as threatened.

An amendment clarifying that the protection given hunting and fishing in wilderness areas is not intended to permit motorized recreation or mineral extraction was also passed.

Groups such as the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, PETA and other like-minded groups have opposed the legislation largely based on junk science and outright lies.  Their ominous warnings about the effects of lead bullets for use in hunting, for example, have been debunked by (of all governmental entities) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an exhaustive study a few years ago, when these claims surfaced.

Once again, it’s important to understand that these groups will employ whatever means are at their disposal to end hunting and fishing, or otherwise man’s traditional relationship to the animal kingdom.

Here is how Michigan’s representatives voted on the measure: Hansen Clarke, John Conyers, Jr., Dale Kildee, Sander Levin, Gary Peters – all Democrats and all voted in opposition.  Republicans Justin Amash, Dan Benishek, Dave Camp, Bill Huizenga, Thaddeus McCotter, Candice Miller, Mike Rogers, Fred Upton, and Tim Walberg all voted in favor.
“H.R. 4089 spells out in plain language that hunting, fishing and recreational shooting are legitimate uses of federal public lands, said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance president and CEO Bud Pidgeon, and that these lands are open, as a matter of law, to these traditional activities.”

Pidgeon also said the legislation makes it “crystal clear that the U.S. EPA does not have the authority to restrict Americans’ choices of ammunition and fishing tackle.”

Now the effort to protect American tradition moves to the Senate, where partisan politics will be on parade – the one parade replete with clowns everyone loves to hate.