NSSF®, the Firearm Industry Trade Association, welcomes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) publication of a Final Rule that allows more opportunities to be opened for sportsmen and women to hunt and fish on National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs).
The USFWS announced that 52 new distinct hunting and fishing opportunities across 211,000 acres on 12 NWRs are being added to the 571 existing NWRs and wetland management areas where hunting and fishing opportunities already exist.
“The Firearm Industry Trade Association celebrates every new and expanded hunting opportunity on National Wildlife Refuges benefitting outdoorsmen and women,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel. “It has long been the goal that hunting opportunities should be opened on public lands and made available to the public. They are the public landowners and the ones who are vested in seeing these hunting opportunities benefit sustainable wildlife conservation. The firearm industry is particularly proud of the conservation investments made by firearm and ammunition manufacturers through the federal firearm and ammunition excise taxes that are the primary drivers of wildlife conservation in America.”
NSSF, however, is disappointed that buried within this announcement are restrictions that continue to ban the use of traditional lead ammunition. NSSF will seek to immediately revise and repeal bans on the use of traditional ammunition in the next White House administration or through litigation.
Hunters and recreational marksmen and women should be free to choose the ammunition that will best serve their needs for ethical and efficient harvesting of wildlife. Wildlife management decisions should be based on sound scientific field data. Restrictions on the use of traditional ammunition should only be imposed where the sound science establishes a wildlife population decline caused by hunters’ use of traditional ammunition and there is no other less-costly remedial measure available to effectively address the issue. Today’s “Hunt-Fish” rule does not rely on such science that would justify restricting the use of traditional ammunition on the newly opened big game opportunities.
NSSF is proud that the firearm and ammunition industry has invested over $27.38 billion, when adjusted for inflation, to wildlife conservation in America since 1937 through the Pittman-Robertson federal firearm and ammunition excise taxes. These taxes, paid by the manufacturers, are dedicated solely for the conservation of wildlife, the habitats in which they thrive, hunter education programs and construction of new, or expansion of existing, recreational target shooting ranges to promote safe and responsible firearm skills, handling and ownership. These 10 to 11 percent excise tax dollars collected for the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act are specifically designated to be used by state wildlife agencies for conservation and related purposes. Collectively, purchasers of firearms and ammunition, hunters and the industry are the greatest source of wildlife conservation funding.
In 2024, USFWS apportioned over $1.6 billion to the states for wildlife conservation projects, of which $944 million was sourced from Pittman-Robertson excise taxes paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers.
