South Dakota Governor Signs “Firearms Freedom Act” Bill

Governor Michael Rounds of South Dakota has signed the SD Firearms Freedom Act into law. This brings to five the number of states that have enacted FFAs – Montana with the original, followed by clones of the MFFA in Tennessee, Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota.

FFA-watchers now turn to Oklahoma, Alaska and Idaho where other FFAs are steaming through the legislatures. In addition to the five states with enacted FFA laws, 21 other states have FFA bills introduced.

BTW, I did an interview with the New York Times today about the FFA movement, apparently as a part of a larger NYT story about the nationwide states’ sovereignty movement. I expect the story to appear Saturday or Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see what the NYT, the self-proclaimed U.S.’s “newspaper of record,” says about the FFAs. Can they wish away FFA bills in 26 states?

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

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Wyoming Gov. Signs “Firearms Freedom Act” Bill

On Thursday, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal signed the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, making Wyoming the fourth state to enact an FFA.

The Governor of South Dakota is expected to sign the SDFFA soon.

The WFFA differs from the original Montana model in that it establishes potential state penalties for anyone arresting a Wyoming person making or selling firearms, ammunition or accessories done in compliance with the WFFA.

The SDFFA varies from the Montana model in that it does not include the grounds for the SDFFA, as all other FFAs do.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

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“Wolf Worms” And Other Wolf-Born Diseases

The following is a copy of the written testimony submitted to the Montana Legislature by Gary Marbut, President of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, in regards to information provided about Echinococcus Granulosus. (Similar comments made by Will Graves, author of “Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages“, can be read here.)

March 7, 2010

Environmental Quality Council

Re: Followup to March 5th testimony

From: Gary Marbut, President
Montana Shooting Sports Association

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Council:

There are issues about wolves that were not adequately addressed before the Council on Friday, primarily because of time constraints, and about which I’d like to follow up.

Wolf diseases and human health risks.

About Echinococcus Granulosus (EG for short), I felt that the council did not get a good synopsis of this disease. The Council was informed by FWP that 63% of Montana wolves carry this disease, which is transmissible to humans.

Because this disease has not been well studied, especially concerning the likelihood that this disease has been or will be transmitted to humans, FWP takes the position that it is no big deal. They equate their lack of information with absence of risk – what you don’t know about can’t hurt you, an attitude similar to the people of Haiti about earthquakes a year ago.

This is a mistake. Council members have been provided recent issues of The Outdoorsman which will generate a more informed view. Let me summarize.

EG (called “Wolf Worms” by some) is a parasite – a type of tapeworm. In Montana wolves examined there were literally thousands of these tiny tapeworms in the intestine of wolves. These tapeworms produce tens of thousands, maybe millions of microscopic eggs that are expelled in wolf feces. These eggs are viable for long periods of time, depending upon conditions.

These millions of EG eggs can become airborne or get flushed by rain into moving water. I have been unable to learn if community water treatment processes normally used to purify drinking water will reliably remove or destroy these eggs. That remains an open question.

What is not open to question is that people who intake these eggs though inhalation or any sort of transport-to-mouth mechanism can develop cysts that may be discovered any time from soon after exposure to as long as 20 years later. Such a long incubation period causes EG to be a nightmarish, untrackable public health risk.

Therefore, FWP’s position that no public health risk has been demonstrated is simply a case of whistling past the graveyard – denial based on lack of information and wishful thinking (but absolutely typical of FWP’s endless overt downplay of negative wolf impact).

When EG cysts form in a person, they are VERY difficult to detect. There are serological tests for presence of EG, but these tests have a spotty detection rate. Further, nearly all medical practitioners and diagnosticians are unaware of EG and are unlikely to look for or diagnose presence of EG cysts from non-specific patient complaints.

EG cysts have an affinity for peoples’ livers, lungs and brain, and sometimes heart. They may grow up to ten or 14 inches in diameter. Usually, there are multiple cysts in the affected organ. These cysts are an encapsulation of the larval form of EG, and one cyst may contain hundreds of these worm larvae. When a person develops EG cysts, that condition is called Hydatid Disease.

If a diagnostician should luck onto the detection of any such cyst in a patient, the only way to address or remove the cyst is via surgery – cut it out. Because of the risks associated with such surgery, the physician will usually opt to let the cyst grow until it becomes life-threatening before attempting surgical removal. Meanwhile, more such cysts may form in the same or other organs of the patient.

A physician and pathologist who is a member of MSSA told me that he has seen a death from EG where the patient’s liver was destroyed by EG cysts. A scientific journal reports the potential for heart attacks because critical heart blood supply vessels are blocked by EG cysts. Imagine EG cysts in your brain and being forced to choose between the risks of letting them grow, or surgery to remove them.

To summarize, 63% of Montana wolves are shedding millions of invisible, microscopic EG eggs across our landscape, eggs that can become airborne or water-borne and persist in the environment. These EG eggs can and do infect people. That is proven. Once infected, a person may develop cysts, up to 20 years later. The cysts will most likely be in the person’s liver, lungs, brain or heart. It is statistically unlikely that medical personnel will detect such cysts in a patient, except upon autopsy. If cysts are detected, the only solution is surgery, which is usually deferred because of the high risks of such surgery, until the risk of death from cysts exceeds the risk of death from surgery.

But, even that is not the whole story. There is another, similar type of tapeworm carried by wolves that is perhaps less studied and even more dangerous to humans. That is Echinococcus Multilocularis (“EM” for short). The life cycle, transmissibility and consequences of EM are similar to EG, but differ in some important ways.

Since EM is even less studied than EG, we don’t know how prevalent EM may be in Montana. Further, when a person is infected with EM cysts, those cysts eventually rupture and the infected person dies suddenly from anaphylactic shock. The primary mechanism of death may or may not be detected upon autopsy, which, of course, no longer matters to the deceased.

Since systematic EG and EM detection and reporting processes do not exist, we simply have no way at present to quantify the public health threat. In the face of this absence of information about EG and EM, FWP assures us that these diseases are no big deal. Instead of stressing that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, FWP, with its head firmly in the sand, assures us that there is no problem.

Other diseases.

Mange and parvovirus are known to be hammering wolf populations currently. In Yellowstone Park, the chief cause of wolf mortality now is wolves being killed by other wolves. Both of these are obvious signs of overpopulation. The wolf advocates will argue that because wolves are dying from overpopulation we must stop killing wolves, a pretty obvious comment on the quality of rationale’ used by wolf advocates.

We know that rabies is endemic in other wild animals in Montana, especially in skunks and foxes. With wolves in the overpopulated condition demonstrated by wolf-wolf killing and existing diseases, it is only a matter of time before rabies begins to infect wolves, if it hasn’t already.

In Will Graves’ book Wolves in Russia, Graves documents that rabies-infected wolves will run for 100 miles or more, deliberately biting and infecting every animal and person it encounters. Stories abound in Russian literature of rabid wolves entering villages and attacking and biting every cow and person not sheltered inside buildings. This is not the bite-kill-eat behavior usual with wolves, but bite, move on and bite again typical of rabies-infected wolves.

Regardless of the political and ecological debate about wolves, it is a huge mistake to ignore the public health dimension of wolf diseases. Such diseases are real and they are a threat to public health. We don’t know how large the threat is because we lack information to make a determination. However, the potential threat is huge, for the reasons stated. It would be a serious mistake for policy-makers to not take this public health threat seriously until it can be proven otherwise.

If a homeowner calls 911 to report that an armed intruder is trying to force entry to the home with mayhem in mind, the dispatcher will send armed police immediately to investigate and interdict. The dispatcher will NOT require the homeowner to provide photographs and corroborating statements by five witnesses before dispatching assistance.

Citizens alerting policy-makers about the threat of wolf diseases to people is analogous to that 911 call. FWP’s dismissal of the alleged problem is like the theoretical dispatcher requiring photographs and witness statements before dispatching assistance. “Prove it,” they are saying. If policy-makers are unwilling to send the public health police, they should at least be honest enough to inform citizens that they are on their own to defend against this threat.

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West Virginia Introduces Firearms Freedom Act

In the West Virginia Senate, SB555 was introduced by Sen. Dave Sypolt. That brings to 26, a majority, of states that have now introduced or passed and signed a Firearms Freedom Act bill.

Tom Remington

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Utah Wants To Take Back Federally Owned Land By Eminent Domain

More pushing back against the strong arm of the Federal Government.

“Long frustrated by Washington’s control over much of their state, Utah legislators are proposing a novel way to deal with federal land — seize it and develop it.

The Utah House of Representatives last week passed a bill allowing the state to use eminent domain to take land the federal government owns and has long protected from development.” <<<read the rest>>>

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S. Dakota Legislature Passes Firearms Freedom Act

The South Dakota Legislature has passed the South Dakota Firearms Freedom Act and that bill is enroute to the Governor’s desk. Governor Michael Rounds has indicated that he’s comfortable with the SDFFA and will sign the bill when it reaches his office.

South Dakota will make the fourth state that has enacted a clone of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. Once the Wyoming and South Dakota governors sign their respective bills into law, they will join Montana, Tennessee and Utah with enacted laws.

Other states are likely to finish their FFA enactments soon, including Alaska and Oklahoma.

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

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Sen. Jim Demint: White House Land Grab

“A secret administration memo has surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico, halting job- creating activities like ranching, forestry, mining and energy development. Worse, this land grab would dry up tax revenue that’s essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers.

“The 21-page document, marked “Internal Draft-NOT FOR RELEASE,” names 14 different lands Mr. Obama could completely close for development by unilaterally designating them as “monuments” under the 1906 Antiquities Act.” <<<Read the Rest>>>

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Public Hearing For Idaho Emergency Wolf Bill Stopped

There will be no public hearing on HRC043, Idaho’s Wolf Emergency Resolution.

The word I have received from sources say Governor Otter has requested that the House Resources chairman, John A. Stevenson, “suppress” this bill. In other words he doesn’t want it acted on in the Idaho Legislature. What is it that Governor Otter fears? What happened to the governor who stood on the steps of the Capital and announced he wanted to be the first to kill a wolf?

Tony Mayer, SaveElk.com, is encouraging all Idaho residents to contact their representative and voice concerns. He drafted a sample letter if you choose to use it when emailing your representative.

Representatives Stevenson and Shepard:

We are disappointed in your decision to suppress HRC043 Wolf Emergency Resolution as this is a small but very necessary measure to encourage our governor to take proactive necessary steps to deal with the untenable wolf crisis in our state.

We further request that you encourage and support additional measures and legislation directed at taking additional necessary measures to reduce the population of the Canadian Gray Wolves in our state back to the original agreed FWS approved Wolf Management Plan population level of 150 wolves.

Allowing the original introduction of the Canadian Gray Wolf into our state was ill-advised and a mistake in the first place. Continuing to allow the wolf population to vastly exceed by some eight to ten times the original 150 wolf level is catastrophic and is causing irreparable harm to our citizens.

Wolves are depredating ungulate herds throughout our state and are proven harbingers’ of highly contagious parasites. Wolves are jeopardizing the very safety and health of our citizens, our livestock and state wildlife resources.

We encourage you to fulfill the fiduciary responsibility you have to your constituency and to take whatever action within your prevue to preserve and protect the citizens and the resources of our state.

Tony Mayer
SaveELk.com

Tom Remington

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Idaho Introduces Firearms Freedom Act. Utah Gov. Signs FFA

The Idaho Firearms Freedom Act has been introduced as H0589 by Rep. Dick Harwood. This makes 25 states with FFA bills introduced or enacted. This makes at least half of all the states that have introduced like bills in order to strip Washington of its overreaching power grab.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert has just signed the Utah Firearms Freedom Act, making Utah the third state to adopt this challenge to federal authority.

Governor Herbert the first Republican governor to sign an FFA.

Tom Remington

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Maine Should Oppose Funding Fish And Wildlife With General Taxation

George Smith, Executive Director for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, has announced a group effort plan to help fund the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife with a portion of the general taxation. SAM is teaming up with The Nature Conservancy and the Maine Audubon seeking 1/8% of sales tax revenue to fund MDIFW.

Smith writes of how nearly one million Maine residents enjoy the benefits of the hard work done by MDIFW and yet do not pay a nickel for it. He’s correct. MDIFW is funded through license fees and federal money kicked back via the Pittman-Robertson Act. And yet, MDIFW is overburdened with non fish and game programs all funded on the backs of hunters, trappers and fishers.

Changing the funding to come from general taxation is a bad idea and I’ll explain why. First let me briefly lay out my plan for how to ease the financial burden along with the stretching thin of MDIFW personnel. Remove a majority of the non game programs that have been dumped in the lap of MDIFW and place them at the Department of Conservation or other departments where they belong. Then fund those programs with general tax dollars. This would include but not be limited to management of all non game wildlife, including plants and vegetation. Add to that endangered species protection, wildlife viewing platforms, etc. and let’s put search and rescue and snowmobile/atv law compliance into law enforcement. When the Warden Service is needed, they can bill out their services to the appropriate department.

Keeping general tax dollars out of MDIFW is essential. If Maine should opt to allow this money for funding, I guarantee, environmentalists, anti-hunting and animal rights groups will begin pounding the drum and demanding that they have representation on the MDIFW commission. Just about every state in America that has buckled to the financial pressures to find ways of funding and chose tax dollar funding, has run up against this very problem.

Here’s one state in which I’ll give you an example. New Jersey began funding it’s fish and wildlife division, which by the way was morphed into a larger Department of Environmental Protection, with tax dollars. Almost immediately animal rights and anti hunting groups demanded representation. This was a petition that was circulated there last year.

I support Assembly bill A3275 and Senate bill S2041 – legislation that will democratize, modernize and remove the corrupting influence of profit from the hunter-dominated New Jersey Fish and Game Council, the state body that has power over our wildlife.

Declaration for an Independent and Democratic Wildlife Council

We, the people of New Jersey, stand united against the NJ Fish and Game Council, for it has abused its power, has broken the law, and benefits from millions of our tax-dollars every year without giving one voice to the common man.
We seek nothing but reasonable reforms that will prepare our state for managing wildlife in the twenty-first century. We aspire to nothing more than bringing democracy to a state body that now has none.
We act for the environment, for wildlife, for the people of New Jersey and the ideal of good government, for when one special interest holds tyranny over all, only arrogance and corruption can follow.
In this cause we are unanimous and resolute: The NJ Fish and Game Council must be dramatically reformed, so that it will at last serve the interests of the many instead of the recreational hunting desires of the few.

Notice the demonizing of hunters through “profit” when their goals are to put an end to all hunting and fishing. They describe it as “modernizing” and “democratizing” wildlife management. Is this what Maine wants?

In Smith’s article he points out that $2.4 billion is raked in each season through benefits directly related to work by the MDIFW. If you want to see that amount of money shrink in a hurry, then allow the animal rights groups to get a foot in the door to limit hunting and fishing opportunities. MDIFW spends enough time now wasting valued wildlife management dollars defending senseless lawsuits brought on the state by the same groups that will be demanding representation.

I appreciate George Smith’s eagerness to find funding for MDIFW but not at the expense of the hunting, trapping and fishing heritage Maine has enjoyed for decades. I contend that we can actually grow the economic contributions to the state of Maine by shrinking MDIFW back to a fish and game department, while moving all non game programs into other departments, including Conservation and better funding those programs with the tax dollars they deserve.

The money that MDIFW generates now from license sales can then be put toward game management, which is suffering badly. With improved hunting, trapping and fishing opportunities, license sales will go up and non resident sportsmen will return to Maine to spend their valuable sports dollars.

Maine voters should seriously get all the answers and completely understand what an amendment to the Constitution would do to their hunting and fishing heritage. The quick fix to a money problem might look appealing but in the long run it may not be in the best economic interest for Maine to do this.

Tom Remington

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HCR043 Idaho Bill Encourages Gov. To Declare Emergency To Reduce Wolf Numbers

LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO
Sixtieth Legislature Second Regular Session 2010
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 43
BY RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION COMMITTEE

1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
2 STATING FINDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE THAT EXISTING CONDITIONS RELATING TO
3 WOLVES DEFINE AN EMERGENCY CONDITION FOR ALL RURAL IDAHOANS AND, IN THE
4 FACE OF THIS EMERGENCY, THE LEGISLATURE ENCOURAGES THE GOVERNOR OF THE
5 STATE OF IDAHO TO DECLARE THAT A STATE OF EMERGENCY EXISTS IN IDAHO AND
6 TO AUTHORIZE AND REQUIRE THE IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME TO USE
7 ANY MEANS TO REDUCE WOLF NUMBERS TO THOSE DESIGNATED FOR RECOVERY OF THE
8 SPECIES.

9 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:

10 WHEREAS, wolf populations have grown to a level of over eight times the
11 number designated for recovery of the species in Idaho and no effective man12
agement plan exists for reducing wolf populations to the number designated
13 for recovery of the species? and
14 WHEREAS, growing and unacceptable levels of wolf predation against
15 livestock and pets exist and many claims relating to losses by wolves are not
16 fully compensated? and
17 WHEREAS, wolf packs have moved into densely populated areas and unnec18
essarily large numbers of wolves constitute a threat, not only to property,
19 but to human life itself, with particular threat to children? and
20 WHEREAS, the time and costs expended in an effort to protect livestock
21 against wolf attacks is never compensated? and
22 WHEREAS, people living in most rural parts of the state are threatened
23 by wolves and must change their habits and lose the safe use of, and travel
24 upon, their own property. Individuals must now arm themselves to face the
25 threat of growing, unchecked numbers of wolves in many parts of the state?
26 and
27 WHEREAS, unchecked numbers of wolves are destroying the culture and
28 heritage of rural Idahoans including, but not limited to, their use of real
29 estate, their use of hounds for legal hunting of big game, their livelihood
30 in professional hunting, such as outfitting and guiding, and their choice of
31 type and location of livestock animals for food production and recreation?
32 and
33 WHEREAS, excessive wolf populations reduce livestock production
34 through direct loss of life and loss of productivity, with higher costs to
35 producers, which creates devaluation of established livestock businesses in
36 areas of high wolf populations? and
37 WHEREAS, excessive numbers of wolves are hindering recovery of elk pop38
ulations in parts of the state, are reducing the big game populations avail39
able to hunters in the state, and are preventing the Idaho Department of Fish
40 and Game from exercising its mandate to manage big game for the benefit of
41 hunters in the state? and
42 WHEREAS, in 2006, Governor Jim Risch issued Executive Order No. 200643
32, finding that there was an imminent threat to the health of wild elk herds,

Page 2

1 as well as to the public health and safety of the citizens of Idaho, due to
2 escape of domestic elk from the Conant Creek Facility in eastern Idaho and
3 ordered the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to “identify and shoot on site,
4 any domestic elk that have escaped from the Conant Creek Facility.” The large
5 number of wolves in the state presents a far greater threat.
6 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular
7 Session of the Sixtieth Idaho Legislature, the House of Representatives
8 and the Senate concurring therein, that the above described conditions
9 define an emergency condition for all rural Idahoans and, in the face of this
10 emergency, the Legislature hereby encourages the Governor of the State of
11 Idaho to declare that a state of emergency exists in Idaho and to authorize
12 and require the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to use any legal means to
13 reduce wolf numbers to those designated for recovery of the species.

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Idaho To Take Proactive Measure To Investigate Hydatid Disease

Senator Tim Corder
Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee
Senator Gary Schroeder
Senate Resources and Environment Committee

Idaho State Senate
State Capitol
P.O. Box 83720
Boise, Idaho 83720-0081

February 16, 2010

Recently a great deal of information has become available, via the internet, about a little known parasite, Echinococcus, and a disease caused by E. granulosus called Hydatid disease. Because of the concern indicated in the information and the assertions that factual data is being purposefully withheld it would seem prudent to adopt a plan for discovery and action. The actions and discoveries, outlined below, will assist in determining the nature of the risk to human health directly or indirectly through pets, game animals or livestock. Science based discoveries will dictate the actions to be taken to protect the public health, game herds, pets, and livestock.

Discoveries and actions to be taken:

The Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Public Health will request for the human medical provider community to notify state epidemiologist Dr. Hahn of suspicious or irregular findings consistent with echinococcal disease. They will also get information to family physicians, radiologists, and state disease specialists and survey them about possible cases they may have investigated in Idaho. In addition, they will work to raise awareness in the physician community of the potential for echinococcal disease transmission in Idaho and

1. Evaluate the value of explicitly adding human echinococcal disease to the state’s reportable diseases and conditions (it currently could be reported as an “extraordinary occurrence of illness” under the Reportable Disease Rules).
2. Department of Agriculture will evaluate placement of the disease on the “Notifiable” list of livestock diseases.
3. Request for wildlife biologists that have worked with canids to be checked for the presence of Hydatid cysts.
4. Request federal inspection reports from slaughter houses processing livestock.
5. The Department of Health and Welfare will update their web site to place a link for hunters and those handling wild game. The site will offer safe handling techniques and precautions that will minimize risk for echinococcal and other disease transmission.
6. The Department of Agriculture will offer similar information to livestock producers.
7. State medical authorities Dr Hahn, Dr. Barton, and Dr. Drew will contact the individuals whose research has been cited on the internet to ensure they have a full awareness of those researchers’ positions on echinococcal disease and transmission risk.
8. Drs. Hahn and Tengelsen from the Department of Health and Welfare will make the CDC aware of the changing epidemiology and concerns about potential risk and enlist their assistance in gathering information that will help clarify the epidemiology of echinococcal disease in Idaho.
9. Develop a plan for expanding the examination of canid, cervid, ungulate and other carcasses and the accumulation of data.
10. Use examinations to determine whether more than one species of echinococcus is present.
11. Designate a resident location for the compilation of data and available resources.

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Idaho Legislation To Back Governor Emergency Declaration To Reduce Wolves

The Idaho House Resources Committee voted for a resolution that would back the Governor should he decide to declare an emergency to reduced wolves in that state. The resolution was later changed to read, “any legal means” to reduce wolf populations rather than “any means”.

“This bill is about legislators being able to show their support, should the governor so wish to have an executive order to have wolves removed,”

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President’s Budget Proposal Includes Separate $42.5 Million Request for Wild Horse Preserve

Circulated by the Sportsmen’s and Animal Owners’ Voting Alliance (SAOVA)

The proposed $75.7 million 2010 BLM budget proposal includes a funding request for a wild horse preserve to be built in the Midwest or Eastern portion of the United States.

CHEYENNE – The federal government already owns 90% of Nevada, 50% of Wyoming, and comparable percentages of every Western state–and yet they are now proposing a massive land grab in the Midwest and East. All to house excess feral horses that they do not have the moral fortitude necessary to control.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program already spends 75% to 80% of its budget on excess horses held in private feedlots and long term holding facilities off of the federal lands they are mandated to manage.

In addition to a $12 million increase from the President’s 2009 $64 million BLM budget proposal, separate funding totaling $42.5 million has been requested to purchase land for a wild horse preserve. The preserve would relocate wild horses to the Midwest or eastern portions of the United States in order to attain the appropriate population levels and remove the wild horses from the western rangelands where the wild horse have caused substantial environmental degradation .

While the intention of the BLM is to better manage the horse population is laudable, spending taxpayer’s money to build horse preserves is not the solution. “The United Organizations of the Horse believes moving the horses to a different geographical area will not solve the problem, but will only spread the environmental degradation and increase an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer,” says Sue Wallis, executive director of the United Organizations of the Horse, “reinstating humane horse processing in the United State is the only moral and ethical solution to management of the growing number of excess wild horses.”

The BLM also intends to use aggressive fertility control measures to slow the increasing number of wild horses, but this will not reduce the current number of wild horses that is already too large. Unmanaged horse herds double in population every four years. The Wild Horse and Burro Management program has been facing decreasing adoptions of wild horses and higher costs associated with the feeding and housing of the horses.

Leaving too many horses on the land will only result in thousands of horses dying of starvation. Dr. Temple Grandin, professor of animal science at Colorado State University has noted that “Mother Nature is cruel.” She has also been heard to say that “Death is not abuse. Abuse is dying of starvation and having your entrails torn out by coyotes because you are too weak to get up.”

The current state of the U.S. economy is already unhealthy and to expect taxpayers and the government to pay for increased costs associated with an issue that has an easy solution is irresponsible. Wild horses have become a political pawn for the animal rights movement and this is not only doing an injustice to the horses, it is causing an increased burden on taxpayers and the United States government. These misguided management practices must be stopped and a practical solution that will actually decrease the number of wild horses and provide relief must be implemented.

“The last thing this country needs right now,” says Wallis, “is a welfare entitlement program for animals that uses taxpayer dollars to line the pockets of so-called animal advocates while exacerbating and prolonging the suffering of horses.”

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S. Dakota, Colorado File “Firearms Freedom Act” Bills

The movement continues nationwide as state after state gets on the bandwagon seeking 10th Amendment separation of state and federal government. Seemingly fed up with the strong arms and broadening Federal Government controls, states are hoping a law, the same or similar to Montana’s Firearms Freedom Act, will set the ball rolling to regain some of the states’ sovereignty.

For those not familiar, the nation’s first Firearms Freedom Act, appeared in Montana, sponsored by the Montana Shooting Sports Association. The Act essentially declares that any guns or gun parts manufactured in Montana and remain in Montana, cannot be regulated by the Federal Government. Montana passed that Act and it was signed by Gov. Schweitzer. The state is seeking declaratory judgment from the courts.

South Dakota and Colorado are the two latest states to file bills that are clones or near replicas of Montana’s bill. State Senator Larry Rhoden has introduced the South Dakota Firearms Freedom Act as SB 89. In Colorado, Senator Dave Schultheis has just introduced the Colorado Firearms Freedom Act as SB 10-092.

This now makes Firearms Freedom Acts passed in Montana and Tennessee, and introduced in these 21 states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

It’s likely that FFAs will be introduced soon in West Virginia, New Mexico, Idaho, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina and possibly elsewhere.

Tom Remington

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