NRA Protests Shooting Ban at Bears Ears National Monument

The National Rifle Association has joined a group of sportsman's organizations in filing a protest with the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over the BLM’s final management plan curtailing sport shooting opportunities at Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) in Utah.

In addition to curtailing hunting opportunities, the management plan closes some 1.3 million acres of BENM in southeast Utah to recreational shooting (as one can probably tell by the vast amount of acreage, BENM encompasses far more land than simply the literal "Bears Ears" rock feature).

“This is another example of the Biden-Harris administration circumventing the law to punish recreational shooters and cut off access to federal lands,” said Randy Kozuch, NRA-ILA executive director, when the proposed plan was released. “This radical decision underscored the importance of the November elections to ensure that those in power respect the Second Amendment and our ability to exercise those freedoms.”

On Nov. 1, the NRA, along with nine other organizations, filed a formal appeal over the new management plan that punishes shooters and hunters for no legitimate conservation-based reason. “Our protest is simply stated: The BLM violated the Dingell Act … by prohibiting recreational shooting in its entirety on Bears Ears National Monument,” the appeal stated.

The 2019 John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management and Recreation Act declared it national policy that the BLM and U.S. Forest Service consider hunting, fishing and recreational shooting (HFRS) opportunities as part of federal land, resource and travel management plans. It also declared it national policy that these agencies conserve and enhance the management of wild game species and their habitats—including through hunting and fishing—in concert with state fish and game laws.

For more information on this new management plan, as well as the NRA's protest against it, check out the reporting over on NRA's Hunter's Leadership Forum.