Colorado Hunters To Face Increase In Hunting License Fees

NRA-ILA ^ | Feb 2, 2004 | NA

[neverdem]

Monday, February 02, 2004 The General Assembly is currently considering House Bill 1208, which would increase resident hunting license fees and provide for automatic increases in the future. NRA-ILA is currently working with legislators in Colorado to find a solution to the Department of Wildlife`s budget issues that is amenable to hunters. HB 1208 was reported to be out of the House Finance Committee yesterday with some favorable amendments, but will need more work on the floor. Please check www.NRAILA.org for updates on this legislation. Also, Senate Bill 158 has been introduced by Senator Ken Gordon (D-35). This bill concerns the mandatory storage of firearms, and has been sent to the State Veterans & Military Affairs Committee. Please call you Senator at (303) 866-2316 and ask him to oppose this measure.

[neverdem]

BANG

[BUCKSBUD]

So what's the big deal a couple a dollars a year in a license increase? What's the concern about firearms storage?
I get really sceptical of posts that want want you to call your congressman or senator when they only make a couple of statements and present the whole story up front.
WHAT'S THE STORY HERE? or are you just a lobbyist trying to get support for an unpopular bill?

[RonF]

What is the text of these bills? How much will the licensing fees be raised? What are the terms of "mandatory storage"? Kind of hard to know whether or not one should oppose or support these bills with the information presented here.

[Joe Brower]

The "big deal" about a "couple of dollars" is that terms like "a couple of dollars" to a politician are a wide-open invitation for abuse. Politicians in general, and the Colorado legislature in particular, have plainly demonstrated over the years that they are no friends of gunowners. The power to tax is the power to destroy, and they know it.

The concern about firearms storage, well, there's yet another example. More government intrusion into the daily affairs of already law-abiding citizens, as well as more avenues for incremental encroachments on our rights as time goes on. Again, not to learn from history in this regard is to suffer when it repeats itself.

The fact that the NRA-ILA advocates opposition to this bill is good enough for the majority of us who have been in the fight for a while. They are right much, much more often than they are wrong. Without their efforts and leadership, the RKBA would have been made extinct decades ago.

[neverdem]

I don't live in Colorado. I'm just passing along a heads-up from the NRA-ILA. Do as you see fit. Good luck, Adios

[BUCKSBUD]

You are still being awfully evasive in giving a straight answer to the questions asked here. Give some specifics if you really know any. Your responses also sound very PARANOID, and to blindly follow this just because it is supported by the NRA says that you can't think for yourself. If the NRA said it was a good idea to jump off a tall building would you blindly follow?
Don't get me wrong I strongly believe in gun ownership and 2nd ammendment rights. I just want to know the whole story.

[MileHi]

How much will the licensing fees be raised?

In most cases the fees are DOUBLED.

What are the terms of "mandatory storage"?

Can you imagine any storage law that would be a good thing? I can't, it's none of their buisness. That Ken Gordon wrote it is all one needs to know.

[Joe Brower]

Got a problem with your caps lock key? PARANOID, eh? Where on earth have you been for the last thirty years? Tinme to wake up and take a good look around. And save the insults for someone on whom it'll have some effect.

If you truly want to know the whole story, then do your own research instead of demanding it be given to you on a silver platter.

If that's too much work for you, then just be quiet and let the adults do the work. You can continue to ride on our coattails. We're used to it.

[BUCKSBUD]

You really would jump off that building, wouldn't you?

[Joe Brower]

If the Colorado legislature passed a bill mandating that all gunowners must shoot themselves in the head, you would, wouldn't you?

[BUCKSBUD]

Read the Bill. It says absolutly nothing about "MANDATORY STORAGE" it is only a bill to revise lisencing fees and has a provision for the fees to be adjusted with inflation. It appears the folks on CO have been getting a pretty good deal on licenses and they are trying to get in line with other states. The additional fees go to wildlife eduacation in the state.
That's all it says. I read it. I do my own reasearch instead of believing everything a third party tells me.

[Joe Brower]

The post discusses two seperate peices of legislation, House Bill 1208 and Senate Bill 158. Go back and re-read it.

As for "additional fees go to wildlife eduacation (sic) in the state", yeah, that's the pretense for how this stuff gets sold. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. There have been cases at both state and federal levels where, years afterwards, it's found out that the monies were used to fund all sorts of other unrelated programs, sometimes even anti-gun programs. The fact that you fall so easily into this trap is another indicator that you haven't been paying attention for quite a while.

If you spent half as much time doing your own research on this matter that you spend arguing with me on this forum, you would know all this already.

[neverdem]

Read the Bill. It says absolutly nothing about "MANDATORY STORAGE"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they referred to a separate bill in the State Senate regarding storage requirments.

[neverdem]

The additional fees go to wildlife eduacation in the state.

Revenues acquired by any state are typically fungible and rarely so dedicated. Most likely, the funds from general revenues now spent on wildlife education will be spent for other purposes as they are replaced by increased fees.

[RonF]

In most cases the fees are DOUBLED.

From what to what? $5 to $10? $100 to $200? One may be reasonable, the other not. And where does the money go? In Illinois the hunting license fees go directly to the Illinois DNR, which has a very good reputation for effective action, political independence and lack of waste among the state's sportsmen.

Can you imagine any storage law that would be a good thing?

I don't know what a storage law is.

I can't, it's none of their buisness.

It's none of whose business? The people you're asking to oppose it?

That Ken Gordon wrote it is all one needs to know.

I don't accept anyone's judgement uncritically, especially someone I've never heard of.

[MileHi]

Sorry, been out of town.

From what to what? $5 to $10? $100 to $200? One may be reasonable, the other not. And where does the money go? In Illinois the hunting license fees go directly to the Illinois DNR, which has a very good reputation for effective action, political independence and lack of waste among the state's sportsmen.

For example, resident elk doubles from $30 to $60. DOW has an increasing number of enviros on its board who feel that non-game programs should be just as high a priority as hunting and fishing programs. So I don't assume this funding will be used to benefit sportsmen.

I don't know what a storage law is.

Mandatory storage of firearms. Um, did you happen to read the article?

It's none of whose business?

The government, it's none of their business how I keep my guns.

I don't accept anyone's judgement uncritically, especially someone I've never heard of.

If Gordon wrote the bill, there is no way it is good for gun owners.

That help, or were you pulling my chain?

[RonF]

For example, resident elk doubles from $30 to $60.

That doesn't seem to be an unreasonable amount of money. How does it compare to the rest of the expenses involved in an elk hunt?

DOW has an increasing number of enviros on its board who feel that non-game programs should be just as high a priority as hunting and fishing programs.

Well, I have no problem with putting a high priority on non-game programs. As a Scoutmaster who spends about a month a year under canvas (O.K., usually ripstop nylon ...), most of my outdoor time is spent in non-game programs. But I can see it reasonable to object to game-related revenues being used for non-game programs. The money from hunting/fishing/etc. licenses should go to improve those programs.

So I don't assume this funding will be used to benefit sportsmen.

What's the current actual allocation of those fees? What is being proposed for the allocation of the new fees?

Mandatory storage of firearms. Um, did you happen to read the article?

Yes. Here's what the link says:

Monday, February 02, 2004 The General Assembly is currently considering House Bill 1208, which would increase resident hunting license fees and provide for automatic increases in the future. NRA-ILA is currently working with legislators in Colorado to find a solution to the Department of Wildlife`s budget issues that is amenable to hunters. HB 1208 was reported to be out of the House Finance Committee yesterday with some favorable amendments, but will need more work on the floor. Please check www.NRAILA.org for updates on this legislation. Also, Senate Bill 158 has been introduced by Senator Ken Gordon (D-35). This bill concerns the mandatory storage of firearms, and has been sent to the State Veterans & Military Affairs Committee. Please call you Senator at (303) 866-2316 and ask him to oppose this measure.

That didn't tell me much. Are we talking, then, about things such as requiring trigger locks or gun safes, etc?

If Gordon wrote the bill, there is no way it is good for gun owners. That help, or were you pulling my chain?

That helps. I have no idea who Gordon is, or what his agenda and public positions are.