Risch works to maintain shooting ranges
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June 30, 2013 |
Senator Jim Risch, along with Senator Mark Udall
(D-Colo.), recently introduced a bipartisan and
deficit-neutral bill this week to help states
create and maintain public shooting ranges for
hunters and sportsmen to responsibly practice
their sport and promote firearm safety.
The Target Practice and Marksmanship Training
Support Act (S. 1212) would allow states to use
the excise taxes already collected on sporting
equipment and ammunition to create and maintain
public shooting ranges.
"This legislation addresses the pressing need
for safe and accessible outdoor public shooting
ranges," Risch said. "The bill gives states more
flexibility in how they use their allotment of
tax receipts provided by sportsmen and
recreational shooters to meet their local
needs."
In 2011, spending by sportsmen and women in
Idaho generated $92 million in state and local
taxes as a result of the $1.02 billion that was
spent on hunting and fishing in the state.
Key provisions of the Target Practice and
Marksmanship Training Support Act would:
* Increase the amount of money states can
contribute from their allotted Pittman-Robertson
funds to 90 percent of the cost to improve or
construct a public target range from the current
limit of 75 percent. This would reduce local and
state matching requirements from 25 percent to
10 percent;
* Allow the Pittman-Robertson funds allotted to
a state to remain available and accrue for five
fiscal years for use in acquiring land for,
expanding or constructing a public target range.
Under current law, states must use these funds
within one year; and,
* Encourage the federal land management agencies
to cooperate with state and local authorities to
maintain target ranges on federal land so as to
encourage their continued use.
The Target Practice and Marksmanship Training
Support Act nearly passed Congress last year as
part of a broader package of sportsmen bills.
The package failed during the lame-duck session
of Congress after a minority of senators
protested unrelated provisions relating to duck
stamps. |
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