Six Olympic Medals for USA Shooting, Best Performance Since 1964

Asaka Shooting Range, Tokyo, Japan– USA Shooting earned a grand total of six medals at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, making this their best performance at the Games since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.  

USA Shooting athletes won three gold medals in Men’s Air Rifle (William Shaner), Women’s Skeet (Amber English), and Men’s Skeet (Vincent Hancock), two silvers in Mixed Team Air Rifle (Mary Tucker, Lucas Kozeniesky) and Women’s Trap (Kayle Browning), and one bronze in Mixed Team Trap (Maddy Bernau, Brian Burrows).

“I’m proud of the contributions made by every member of this team. In a period when training and competitions have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, our shooters came prepared to compete and win,” said Matt Suggs, CEO of USA Shooting.  Read more

Firearms

Firearm Industry Surpasses $14 Billion in Pittman-Robertson Excise Tax Contributions for Conservation

NEWTOWN, Conn. — NSSF® the firearm industry trade association, marked a milestone achievement when firearm and ammunition manufacturers topped $14.1 billion in contributions to the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund since its inception in 1937.

“This is truly a remarkable win for wildlife conservation,” said Joe Bartozzi, NSSF’s President and CEO. “This fund has been responsible for the restoration and recovery of America’s iconic game species, including the Rocky Mountain elk, whitetail deer, pronghorn antelope, wild turkeys and a variety of waterfowl. It is also responsible for funding the recovery and conservation of nongame species, including the American bald eagle, reptiles, fauna and conservation lands that allow them to thrive. The firearm industry is proud to perform such an important and vital function to ensure America’s wildlife remains abundant for future generations.”

The Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson fund or Firearms and Ammunition Excise Tax, is a tax paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers on the products they produce. The excise tax is set at 11 percent of the wholesale price for long guns and ammunition and 10 percent of the wholesale price for handguns. The excise tax, paid by manufacturers and importers, applies basically to all firearms produced or imported for commercial sales, whether their purpose is for recreational shooting, hunting or personal defense. The tax is currently administered by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) in the Department of the Treasury, which turns the funds over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

USFWS then deposits the Pittman-Robertson revenue into a special account called the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, which is administered by the USFWS. These funds are made available to states and territories the year following their collection. Read more

Firearms, Fishing, Hunting, Wildlife

Working Together to Save Salmon from Heat

Mike Clark and a team of fisheries professionals watched the weather forecast for late June and knew it meant serious problems for the more than 7 million salmon being reared in the Columbia River Gorge National Fish Hatcheries.

Each day the weather forecast for the Pacific Northwest brought increasingly dire predictions. What started as 104 degrees soon became a forecast of 108 degrees. Then 111 … 115 …. 117 degrees.

The numbers were unfathomable for the normally temperate Pacific Northwest. If they came true, they would exceed previous all-time record highs for many areas by almost 10%. Clark, manager of the Columbia River Gorge National Fish Hatchery Complex, and the staff knew it would have a pronounced impact on the water temperature and the juvenile salmon at hatcheries in the complex.

That meant there was a lot of work with little margin for error as the heat dome settled in from June 25–29.

Fortunately, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish and Aquatic Conservation staff and partners at the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and Yakama Nation were ready for the challenge.

“This was a huge effort in some demanding weather conditions,” Clark said. “It took a lot of people pulling together in extreme weather to protect an important and very delicate resource. This year was particularly significant because of some juvenile wild spring Chinook salmon we had at Warm Springs National Fish Hatchery, which are incredibly important to our tribal partners.”

When the week was all done, the numbers were staggering: Little White Salmon National Fish Hatchery (NFH) in the Columbia Gorge recorded an air temperature of 122 degrees with a reading of 160 skin-blistering degrees on the pavement on June 28.

Despite the hazardous heat, staff and partners worked together to safely transfer 348,000 spring Chinook salmon safely from Warm Springs NFH, and release another 7.15 million juvenile upriver bright fall Chinook salmon eight days ahead of schedule so they could make their way out to the Pacific Ocean before river temperature hit the danger range. Read more

Fishing

SCI Opposes Passage of Section 436 of Interior Appropriations Bill

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a large package of appropriations bills before recessing for the remainder of Summer. Safari Club International (SCI) strongly opposes the inclusion of Section 436 in the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Appropriations Act 2022. If signed into law, Section 436 would ban the importation of sport hunted elephants or lions from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, or Zambia.

The language in Section 436 fails to differentiate illegal poaching in African range countries from legal, regulated hunting by Americans abroad. These countries have strict regulations in place to protect these iconic species, as they are home to some of the world’s largest populations of lions and elephants.

There is no question that this ban will have detrimental impacts on species conservation and the livelihoods of rural African communities. Regulated hunting provides irreplaceable funding for conservation, biodiversity, and habitat protection in southern Africa and, without it, these wildlife species, and the communities of Africans who live with them, are put at tremendous risk. The travel and tourism industry will also suffer from the harmful and senseless elements of Section 436, even as African nations struggle to recover from the financial shock caused by COVID-19. Read more

Hunting

Dorsey Shares How the Uber-Rich Weather a Social Storm in Style

Excerpt from Chris Dorsey’s latest column in Forbes

Tracking the financial moves of high-net worth people is as American as aspiring to be rich. When Warren Buffett (the Oracle of Omaha himself) speaks, for instance, legions of people hang on his every word. While many moves of the wealthy are relatively easy to follow—stock purchases, business investments and fads that go with the lifestyles of the rich and famous—there is one growing trend among the super wealthy that has largely been missed by coastal media gatekeepers.

The rich are gobbling up land far from population centers. The current trend isn’t so much the usual ranch swapping between billionaires looking for a trout dividend, but rather the motivations are rooted in the notion that America is undergoing profound and fundamental change.

To read the rest of the column click here

General

Louisiana CCW Bill Now in Effect

Louisiana HB 124, providing for the carry of any “instrumentality customarily used or intended for use as a dangerous weapon” as long as the carrier has a concealed handgun permit, took effect yesterday, August 1st. This includes knives, except, unfortunately, switchblades.

In 2018 Knife Rights was able repeal Louisiana’s complete ban on switchblades, but in order to get it passed we had to compromise by including the restriction that the knife not be “intentionally concealed on one’s person.” Unfortunately, HB 124 does NOT remove that specific restriction. Intentional concealed carry of a switchblade (automatic knife) remains illegal in Louisiana, even for concealed handgun permitees.

While requiring a CCW to carry a knife concealed is not optimal, we supported this effort as an incremental improvement in Louisiana law. Our ultimate commonsense goal is always to remove any restrictions to carry of any knife by law-abiding persons, period.

Knife Rights is America’s grassroots knife owners’ organization; leading the fight to Rewrite Knife Law in America™ and forging a Sharper Future for all Americans™. Knife Rights efforts have resulted in 34 bills enacted repealing knife bans in 23 states and over 150 cities and towns since 2010. Read more

Cutlery, Self Defense

Primary Arms Partners with NSSF For Personal Defense Gear Box Giveaway

HOUSTON, TEXAS – Primary Arms and the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) are celebrating National Shooting Sports Month with a special giveaway: an AR15 gear box valued at over $2,800.

Every August, National Shooting Sports Month calls for American gun-owners to get out and support shooting sports with participation and outreach. Already, 2021 has seen record growth in American gun-ownership, and National Shooting Sports Month is the perfect opportunity to continue that growth by showing the fun, positive atmosphere of shooting sports. Many of the industry’s largest names are turning out to support the effort, including Primary Arms, who is partnering with the National Shooting Sports Foundation for a month-long free rifle giveaway.

The ‘Primary Arms Personal Defense Package’ Gear Box includes everything you need to get started on the range. Combined, the total package is valued at over $2,800 and includes premium components from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers.

The centerpiece of the giveaway is a Geissele Automatics Super Duty 16” AR15 in Gray, which comes equipped with Primary Arms Optics’ SLx® Advanced Rotary Knob Microdot, a Reptilia Corp 1.93” DOT Mount, a SureFire M640DF Scout Light Pro, an Arisaka Defense M-LOK Indexer, and a Blue Force Gear Vickers sling. Primary Arms has also included five DURAMAG Steel 5.56 30-round magazines, plus a Tru-Spec 24/7 Series Original Tactical Pant and Primary Arms Logo T-Shirt.

“National Shooting Sports Month is one of the most important times for the gun community,” says Dina Sanders, Primary Arms’ Brand Marketing Manager. “Outreach is everything, so we partnered with the National Shooting Sports Foundation on a giveaway that can excite new gun-owners and experienced collectors alike.” Read more

Firearms

SEVR 2.0 Adds More Penetration

Fans of the original big cutting SEVR™ Titanium 2.1 will want to take a close look at the 2.0 blade design added by SEVR last year. Reintroduced as the Ti 2.0, SEVR’s most popular head now has a more swept-back blade angle and re-engineered deployment arm geometry. The new deployment arms expose more of the blades’ leading edge for added cutting surface while reducing friction. The two enhancements result in up to 15% more penetration than the original 2.1. Archer’s will want to stock up while SEVR offers some of the best prices of the season during their Fall Sale Event going on now for a limited time. SEVR broadheads are sold exclusively at sevrbroadheads.com.

Archery

USA Shooting Wraps Tokyo With Record Medal Count

USA Shooting ended its impressive Olympic run-on Monday failing to qualify for finals of either the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol or the Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions. But they were two of the very few times the team wasn’t in contention for a medal in the 12 days of competition. The team is bringing home the most medals since the 1920 Antwerp games: three gold’s, two silvers and a bronze.

It was a notable display, with patience and grit the key components to an American squad that was full of rookies to Olympic competition. They will all most likely be part of the 2024 squad that competes in the games in Paris.

“This team has bounced amazingly well,” Shotgun Coach Jay Waldron said of the team. “Everything that has come at them with the COVID delay, not knowing and the last-minute changes of everything, how everyone has just learned to bounce and to take things as they come.”

Coming out of the Rio games in 2016, USA Shooting left the Brazilian hot spot with two medals, both in Women’s events, Virginia Thrasher gold in air rifle, and bronze for Kim Rhode in skeet.

It was clearly a letdown and had to make the focus even more acute at the headquarters in Colorado Springs.

For Vincent Hancock, going to Rio as the favorite and then not even making the finals, not only left a bad taste in his mouth having won gold in Beijing and London, so Hancock looked for payback in Tokyo.

For gold medalist Vincent Hancock, Tokyo was redemption for his performance in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“In Rio there were a lot of different things going on that I let get to me and I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind,” Hancock said after capturing the skeet competition and his third gold medal. “Coming into here, I knew that I had the chance to do it, I knew that I could do it and I was enjoying every moment I had.”

Hancock at 32, is the undisputed leader of this team and his efforts to win the skeet competition was inspiring and a catalyst for the rest of the group to build on.

Amber English (above) says Hancock “is a huge inspiration for me, as well as a huge asset to our team.” Her performance was inspiring as well.

“Vinny has been a huge inspiration for me, as well as a huge asset to our team,” Amber English said of Hancock. “His pieces of advice are good for me. Before the Games we spent a lot of time and could train together.” Read more

Firearms

Michigan: DNR Investigating Common Carp Mortality

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is investigating a common carp mortality event on Lake Orion in northeast Oakland County that started during the week of July 19 and was reported by residents using the DNR’s Eyes in the Field website. The only species involved is adult common carp, and the number killed thus far is between 250-500 fish.

Fisheries Division staff from the Waterford office visited the lake July 23 and collected common carp samples for analysis. These samples will be analyzed by the Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory at Michigan State University. The DNR expects some initial findings to be available during the week of Aug. 2, with a complete set of results by first week of September. The DNR will make the final results known to the public when available.

“Typically, when you see single-species mortality events, the cause is usually a specific fish pathogen and is often a virus,” said Gary Whelan, Fisheries Division Research Program manager. “Fish kills involving one type of fish are usually not associated with a water quality issue, as water quality issues affect the entire fish community. In this case, the affected fish are common carp which are very tolerant of poor water quality. Thus, it is even more unlikely to be a water quality issue.”

Common carp, native to Europe, were introduced to Michigan in the late 1870s-1880s as a food fish and were widespread in Michigan by the 1890s. They are a naturalized member of our fish community and are found throughout the state. Read more

Fishing
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