Right now, with deer seasons heating up across the country, the federal government has issued directives to close accessible public lands while the government is shut down.
At stake are millions of acres of public land administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and the like. According to the United States Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) these agencies are being told to close access to their lands because of the standoff taking place over funding the federal government.
“These lands are generally accessible to the public without special entrance fees, passage through gates, or access via controlled roads or waterways,” said Nick Pinizzotto, USSA President and CEO. “Not only are these closures unnecessary, they run contrary to law. This is ‘political theatre’ at its very worst.”
The USSA has delivered a letter to President Obama demanding that these closures be lifted to allow American hunters to do our thing.
These closures are occurring on lands where federal law mandates hunting, and where hunting is statutorily determined to be a “priority public use.” Lack of an agreement on a federal budget does not terminate the effect of the law, which clearly allows for hunting.
“It’s a shame that these closures are being implemented as a punishment against sportsmen and women,” said Pinizzotto. “These lands are our lands, and American sportsmen and women—and the general public—deserve better than this.”
What do you think of this mess? Has your hunting been affected yet, or will it? The shutdown will surely end soon, but even one more day that a guy can’t get out and hunt a buck on OUR LAND is a shame.
Don’t blame it on the conservative republicans, they are just trying to do the will of the people and get Obamacare (which may destroy our economy and healthcare system and there is nothing “affordable” about it) canceled. This may be the last time to do something about Obamacare. 67% of the people do not want Obamacare. They are trying to do what the people want, that’s why they were sent there.
We all know that Obamacare is a joke. But……it is the law. If the Republicans want to stop it, they need to win enough elections in 2014 to gain control of the Senate and keep control of the House. Then they can try and repeal the law.
Until then….shutting the government down is hurting the people who who work for the government who aren’t in the House and Senate and the small businesses who depend on the parks and federal lands being open (just to name a few). And along with the bad will that all of this is causing among the citizenry, your Senators and Congress people are still drawing their checks and laughing all the way to the bank.
IMHO, we need to send anyone who has spent more than two terms in the Senate and three terms in the House……home for good, and let Washington know that we’ve had enough.
Or…we (as citizens) can continue to spit – spat back and forth while the people who created this mess continue to draw a check, enjoy great benefits and a heck of retirement. And what do we get? Nothing, except watching this band of morons, flush our kids and grand kids futures down the toilet.
In other words….this isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. This is a politicians vs citizens issue and if we don’t try and stop it, we only have ourselves to blame.
Well stated.
The ones blocking the passing of the bill to keep these lands open are the conservative republicans. Oh by the way they are also the ones that are most ardent in protecting your gun rights. I do agree that we need to do a clean sweep of all of our elected politicians (democrats and republicans). They get to comfortable in their positions and they forget who they are representing.
In the 2012 elections 90% of Senators and Congress men/women who ran for re-election won. Why do “we” keep rewarding behavior like this?
It’s time that “we” the people quit sending this pack of morons back to Washington and elect new citizen representatives. It may not solve all of the issues, but it will let people like Pelosi, Reid, McConnell and Boehner know that they don’t own the country and “we” the people are tired of their political games.
It hasn’t affected me personally, but I think it’s ridiculous. They cancelled youth hunts on our national wildlife refuges where youth had paid for and drawn a permit. They have shut down the outer banks national seashores. Guys who were out there fishing got rounded up like cattle in places. Gates are closed, where they normally stay open 24/7 with no maintenance required.
In short, this IS pure “political theatre”. Our administration is trying to punish the American people for the debate in Congress. They are closing OUR lands and spending more money being a pain in the @#$, than if they had just left everything open. After all, enforcement isn’t closed down, so they really have no logical reason for closing. I think, and I hope, this will backfire on them.