Rep. Andrew Clyde (GA-R) recently introduced the RETURN (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) our Constitutional Rights Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, to the dismay of millions of firearm-owning hunters nationwide.

The RETURN Act would repeal the federal excise tax on rifles, shotguns and ammunition, as well as reduce similar taxes on archery and fishing equipment, which has been set aside for conservation, wildlife management, hunter education and construction of facilities for sportsmen, such as boat ramps and shooting ranges.

“For 85 years sportsmen have willingly paid to support conservation in this country, which has become crown jewel of wildlife management and the model that the rest of the world has embraced,” said Todd Adkins, vice president of government affairs for Sportsmen’s Alliance. “The RETURN Act will gut wildlife management in this country and destroy the North American Model of Conservation.”

The Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program, which is funded by the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act and 1950 Dingell-Johnson Act, is responsible for dispersing nearly $15 billion to the states, including $1.5 billion last year alone, for conservation, wildlife management and recreation.

In the RETURN Act, Rep. Clyde intends to eliminate this funding and subsidize the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program with unsecured and wildly variable funding from the Department of Treasury or the Continental Shelf Lands Act and Mineral Leasing Act, which would never exceed just half of what sportsmen contributed last year.

“Rep. Clyde’s alternative funding sources are diluted among many programs and are highly dependent upon the political agenda of whoever sits in the White House,” continued Adkins. “The beauty of what American sportsmen have willingly built with the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program is that it provides dedicated and protected funding for conservation free of political interference – as it should be.”

Act Now! Sportsmen should contact their U.S. Representatives and tell them to reject the RETURN (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) our Constitutional Rights Act. Sportsmen can find contact information for their representatives by using the Sportsmen’s Alliance Legislative Action Center.

NOTE:  The bill number is (HF-8167) and it has 58 co-sponsors to it. Guess what?  Wisconsin’s own U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and U.S. Rep. Glem Grothman are co-sponsors to this bill. If passed, it will kill all outdoor funding for Fishing, Hunting, ATV, Boating, and just about anything else that the sportmen paid for when purchasing an item.  Here is something else they don’t want you to know, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va) introduced June 14 a bill that will impose a 1,000% tax on firearms deemed to be assult rifles. Isn’t it wonderful we the people elect brain-dead persons to office. It clearly shows he doesn’t know what an assault rifle is. His goal is to tax them to such an extent people choose not to engage in that conduct. 

To contact Rep. Glen Grothman you have several ways of doing it. Washington Office Phone is 202-225-2476. Fond du Lac Office is 920-907-0624. Email is: CongressmanGrothman@mail.house.gov/   Please take a few minutes and contact his office and tell all of you friends and other sportmen you know. Thank you.