BLM Kicks Recreational Shooters Out of Bears Ears National Monument

I’m pretty upset about this news. So why do I suddenly feel the urge to Tune In Tokyo?

Ever got so mad that Donald Trump exists that you deleted a million acres?

Me neither! But the Biden/Harris administration did. And no, I’m really not exaggerating about the reasoning behind this latest development; there were no studies done to justify closing down 1.36 million acres to recreational shooting. We learned this back in June, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) was working to dismantle shooting access at the Sonoran Desert National Monument. Now it’s happened again, with Bears Ears National Monument.

The Bureau of Land Management issued a final rule on its proposed management plan for Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, which includes an outright prohibition on recreational shooting of any kind for any purpose. Bears Ears, like all national monuments, are generally open to recreational shooting by the public, and for many in the western United States, public lands such as these provide the only opportunity for such activities.

“No surprise here, BLM told everyone many months ago that the agency’s preferred alternative was to ban recreational shooting altogether,” said Dr. Todd Adkins, Senior Vice President at the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “The notice and comment process proved meaningless, so we must turn to the courts to keep public land truly public.”

The Sportsmen’s Alliance is pulling together a coalition of organizations and individuals to challenge the BLM rule in federal court. The National Shooting Sports Foundation and Safari Club International have already come out in vociferous opposition to this latest move from BLM. Many organizations fight to protect America’s outdoor enthusiasts, including recreational shooters, and the Sportsmen’s Alliance is actively engaged with many of these groups to find the right pathway forward.

“There are federal statutes that require BLM to have considered a different approach than an outright ban,” said Michael Jean, Litigation Counsel for the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Whether by oversight or with clear intent, we cannot stand by as our members and supporters are thrown off public land in violation of existing law, and we won’t.”