On May 10, President Trump signed the Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act into law.
H.R. 1222, which was sponsored by Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus (CSC) Members Congressmen Ron Kind (WI), Rob Bishop (UT), and Duncan Hunter (CA), is a long-time priority for the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) and the sporting community. CSF has worked closely with CSC leaders over the past several years to ensure the passage of this important bill.
“Now more than ever, America’s sportsmen and women need places to hone their skills and learn the fundamentals of hunting and the shooting sports,” said CSF President Jeff Crane. “This new law furthers these goals by making it easier to build and operate public shooting ranges that are critical in our efforts to recruit, retain and reactive hunters and target shooters who are the backbone of the American System of Conservation Funding.”
Previous law required a 25% non-federal match for the construction, operation, and maintenance of public target shooting ranges. This bill reduces the non-federal match requirement to 10%. Previous law also required states to use apportioned Pittman-Robertson dollars within a two-year window, often making it difficult to complete projects that span multiple budget cycles. This new law addresses this issue by extending the cap to five years. Together, these proposed changes will generate additional revenue for conservation by providing additional venues for marksmanship training in a controlled environment.
In April, this legislation was passed by the U.S. Senate and House.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
