There’s a bill being floated in Harrisburg that’s meant to address Philipsburg Gun Club’s ongoing dispute with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. I’ve heard from some activists in the state that have issues with the bill, and I have to join in some concern. If you read the text, it creates a state level task force  to investigate the issue. The politicians who have introduced this bill do not concern me. Senators Wozniak, Pippy, White, Eichelberger and Stout are all A-rated, so I think this represents a genuine effort to try to deal with this dispute.
What concerns me is that the shooter’s voice in this debate will be represented by the American Trapshooters Association and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. I have no issues with ATA’s presence on the task force, and think they bring a welcome voice. I do have some concerns with PFSC’s presence on the task force, as opposed to, say, NRA’s. Since Melody Zullinger left, PFSC has fallen on hard times, and they no longer seem to be active within the community. I’m very concerned about putting an issue this important in their hands.
Other than that, I think this bill does a number of good things. It prevents state agencies from closing down shooting at ranges without going through the PA Game Commission first, and even then only under a standard of, “because of scientific proof that the action is necessary to avoid environmental degradation which is beyond remediation.” It also puts the PA Game Commission, and not the DCNR, in charge of promulgating regulations for the management of lead at shooting ranges.
Give me a break with the “lead is evil” bullshit, it causes little to no problems. I wanna see the evidence that lead is polluting gun ranges and killing wildlife, people and grasslands. And I mean a non-partisan study, not some shit from the California or Minnesota DNR.
The only thing I’ve ever read is that a California Condor “might have died” from eating a coyote that had lead fragments in the carcass from being shot. I find that completely ridiculous as does everyone else I know.
You got it backwards: Melody left PFSC because it had fallen on hard times and she was one of the architects of its “spit in the face of hunters” policy choice that caused so many clubs to drop out.
What’s sad is that Pa. needs a PFSC/USP local advocacy group, but they’ve both self-destructed and now there is a real vacuum.
There were numerous structural problems with PFSC that I don’t think were really Melody’s fault. But where they are headed now I think is worse than where they were going under Melody.
It’s hard to go somewhere worse than hell in a handbasket.
PFSC took a big hit when they published this gem by Membership Coordinator Jeremy Valentine in their “On Target” newsletter:
“In addition, while I’m all for the right to bear arms, I think people owning handguns is completely ridiculous.”