Fox News By Thomas Catenacci 6/22/2023
Biden admin takes aim at hunters in latest regulation: 'Preventing Americans from hunting'
Biden admin's action will 'create substantial cost barriers' for hunters across the country, expert tells Fox News The Biden administration announced Thursday that it is moving ahead with prohibitions on the type of equipment hunters are allowed to use on federal refuges, a move strongly opposed by sportsmen groups.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released its 2023-2024 hunting and fishing rule — an annual plan laying out regulations for the upcoming hunting season — banning cost-effective lead ammunition and fishing tackle across eight national wildlife refuges by 2026. Such an action has been supported by eco groups, but opposed by hunters, who argue that it could serve as a backdoor attack on hunting broadly.
"This is the latest example of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service creating rules that punish hunters, threaten conservation funding and advance special interests without sound scientific evidence that traditional lead ammunition cause is causing detrimental wildlife population impacts," said Lawrence Keane, the senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
"This administration is ignoring its promise to ‘follow the science.’ In fact, it is ignoring the need for scientific evidence in order to advance an anti-gun and anti-hunting agenda," he continued.
Under the FWS rule proposed Thursday, sportsmen will be prohibited from using lead ammunition or tackle across eight federally managed refuges — Blackwater in Maryland, Chincoteague in Virginia, Eastern Neck in Maryland, Erie in Pennsylvania, Great Thicket in Massachusetts, Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland, Rachel Carson in Maine and Wallops Island Nation in Virginia — beginning on Sept. 1, 2026.
More:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-admin-takes-aim-hunters-latest-regulation-preventing-americans-from-hunting
