American Hunters and Shooters Association:
Fighting to Protect Gun Rights and America's Wilderness
Why American Hunters and Shooters?
Americans who love the outdoors and the shooting sports deserve an organization that represents their views, avoids misleading and manipulative political rhetoric and delivers well thought out, rational programs and policy proposals.
We believe sportsmen and sportswomen overwhelmingly agree that an organization that brings the right message to policy makers on such issues as the safe use of firearms and protecting our environment is long overdue.
American Hunters and Shooters is dedicated to protecting the gun rights of Americans — and for gun owners who are hunters, protecting America's wilderness is implicit in protecting those gun rights. To that end, American Hunters and Shooters is a gun rights organization that has a bedrock commitment to conservation.
American Hunters and Shooters on Gun Rights
American Hunters and Shooters believes the Second Amendment is non-negotiable. We are dedicated to protecting the Second Amendment and fighting for the rights of all responsible gun owners across America. Here are a few examples of what American Hunters and Shooters has done to protect Americans' gun rights:
- "No" to handgun bans. We fought the District of Columbia's gun ban by filing a friend of the court brief in the Heller Supreme Court case opposing the D.C. gun ban. We strongly support the Court's decision, which protects an individual's right to possess guns for private use;
- "No" to gun confiscation. We supported the Vitter Amendment to stop the government from taking our guns from lawful owners during an emergency or natural disaster, such as the so-called "emergency firearm confiscations" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina;
- "Yes" to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. We support common sense measures designed to prevent criminal access to guns, such as requiring background checks for all gun buyers at gun shows — a position that both Senator McCain and Senator Obama support.
Learn more about our efforts on gun rights and gun safety on our website: www.huntersandshooters.com
American Hunters and Shooters on Conservation
Were it not for America's hunters, shooters and anglers our nation would not have a tradition of sound wildlife management, an ethical system of science-based game laws and extensive public lands on which to pursue our hunting heritage. American Hunters and Shooters firmly believes in and stands by the following three conservation principles.
Protecting Hunters' Access to Public Land
Americans Hunters and Shooters is fully committed to protecting habitat for the fish and wildlife that sportsmen enjoy. American Hunters and Shooters is an advocate for preserving our wetlands and supports a broad range of national conservation programs, including the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, the Land and Water Conservation Fund and the National Fish Habitat Plan. National roadless areas provide essential habitat for a broad range of plant and animal species, as well as clean drinking water. AHSA will continue to fight to protect roadless areas on Forest Service lands from all new road construction. In the last few years, the federal government has allowed oil and gas companies to engage in irresponsible development of public lands throughout the West. The Roan Plateau in Colorado, the Pinedale Anticline in Wyoming, the Powder River Basin in Montana and Otero Mesa in New Mexico are several examples of the massive development taking place throughout the West.
American Hunters and Shooters supports setting aside the most important and fragile federal lands and protecting them from irresponsible development. American Hunters and Shooters will also fight to ensure that all energy projects on federal lands meet strict standards designed to avoid harm to our precious wild resources like pronghorn antelope, elk, mule deer, grouse, cutthroat trout and other species that rely on these lands.
Supporting "Open Fields" Laws that Give Private Landowners Incentives to Preserve Habitats
American Hunters and Shooters is greatly concerned about the fact that places to hunt and fish continue to decline. American Hunters and Shooters supports the "Open Fields" legislation that provides incentives to farmers and ranchers who voluntarily open their land to hunting, fishing and other wildlife-related activities.
American Hunters and Shooters supports conservation programs that serve as a resource to landowners and assist them with sustainable environmental planning and best land management practices. AHSA supports funding for the Conservation Security Program and other major set-aside programs such as the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, and Grasslands Reserve Program. American Hunters and Shooters believes the Departments of Agriculture and the Interior should place a special emphasis on restoration of habitat for important game species associated with specific regions of the United States, such as bobwhite quail in the East, Osceola turkey in the South, ruffed grouse in the Northeast, and sage grouse, mule deer, elk, and pronghorn antelope in the West. American Hunters and Shooters supports the use of tax incentives and other financial mechanisms to encourage private landowners to restore and protect habitat.
Climate Change is a Threat to Hunting Land
American Hunters and Shooters believes that the future of hunting and fishing in America depends upon sportsmen and sportswomen proactively addressing the greatest conservation challenges facing our nation today. American Hunters and Shooters believes no greater conservation challenge exists than that of global warming and climate change. This issue is real and we need to work now to minimize the effects of climate change on our wildlife and hunting lands. See the letter AHSA signed along with 670 other sportsmen's organizations demanding Congress acknowledge the threat climate change presents to America's wilderness (56K PDF).
