TARGET PRACTICE AND MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING SUPPORT ACT NSSF FAST FACTS, YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED

In recent years, opportunities
for Americans to safely engage
in recreational and competitive
shooting have declined on both
public and private lands. The
Target Practice and Marksmanship
Training Support Act would help
address this loss of access and
opportunity by allowing states to
allocate a greater proportion of their
federal Pittman-Robertson wildlife
funds to the development and
maintenance of shooting ranges.
The Target Practice and
Marksmanship Training Support
Act would amend the PittmanRobertson Act by adjusting current
funding limitations so that states
have more funds available for
the creation and maintenance of
shooting ranges. Specifically, the bill
would:
• Authorize states to charge up
to 90 percent, instead of the
current 75 percent, of the costs of
acquiring land for expanding or
constructing a public target range
on federal or non-federal land
to its allotted Pittman-Robertson
funds. In other words, the bill
would allow states to move
forward on a project with only
a 10 percent match as opposed
to the current 25 percent
requirement.
• Allow Pittman-Robertson funds
allotted to a state to remain
available and accrue for 5 fiscal
years for use in acquiring land
for expanding or constructing a
public target range on federal or
non-federal land.
• Limit the exposure of federal land
management agencies to frivolous
lawsuits that may result from
the use of federal land for target
practice or marksmanship training.
• Encourage federal land
management agencies to
cooperate with state and local
authorities to maintain target
ranges on federal land.
The Target Practice and
Marksmanship Training Support Act
is badly needed to respond to the
significant decline in recent years
of opportunities for recreational
and competitive shooting on public
lands, thereby limiting the ability
of shooters to participate in their
sports. These declines also have
reduced opportunities for hunters
to sight in their rifles and shotguns
before the hunting season, and for
firearms safety education and hunter
education courses to be taught to
new shooters and hunters.
Almost $11 billion has been
raised by shooting sports
continued
• The Pittman-Robertson excise tax on firearms and ammunition creates a
direct link between those that hunt and participate in the shooting sports
and the resources needed to expand and enhance opportunities to hunt
and shoot.
• This measure would give states more flexibility to allow for PittmanRobertson funds to be used for the development and maintenance of
public shooting ranges.
• The development of new ranges will help encourage participation in
hunting and the shooting sports, ensuring wildlife conservation funding
through the Pittman-Robertson Act will continue for generations to come.
TARGET PRACTICE AND
MARKSMANSHIP TRAINING SUPPORT ACT
NSSF FAST FACTS
SUPPORT
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R- CA – 50) has introduced the bill in the
House, H.R. 788. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.),
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Heidi
Heitkamp
(D-N.D.) have introduced the bill in the Senate, S. 593.
enthusiasts, hunters and
manufacturers since 1937, through
the Pittman-Robertson Act. Target
shooters are largely responsible for
the funds derived through excise
taxes from the sale of firearms
and ammunition products. That
money is directly responsible for
habitat conservation, recreational
shooting and wildlife management,
making gun owners, hunters and
manufacturers largest financial
supporters of wildlife conservation
throughout the United States.
Despite the unqualified success
of this historic “user pays” system,
Pittman-Robertson receipts have
traditionally been allocated in a
manner that disproportionately
underfunds the creation of
recreational shooting opportunities.
Passage of the Target Practice
and Marksmanship Training
Support Act of 2017 would fix this
imbalance. By encouraging states
to develop new shooting ranges
that will facilitate participation in
the shooting sports, this legislation
would ensure that vital wildlife
conservation funding through the
Pittman-Robertson Act continues
for generations to come.
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