Outdoor range. NSSF Photo

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed, with bipartisan support, H.R. 6492, the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act. The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), garnered 51 bipartisan cosponsors. The measure was approved in a voice vote, a rare demonstration of Congress working across party lines.

The EXPLORE Act must be approved by the U.S. Senate before it can be considered by President Joe Biden.

The NSSF-supported bill includes the Range Access Act, which would increase and improve outdoor recreation opportunities across the nation while improving infrastructure and driving economic growth in rural communities. Specifically, that portion of the bill would require the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to have at least one qualifying recreational shooting range in each National Forest and BLM district, which is crucial to ensuring safe public recreational shooting. The EXPLORE Act also contains other provisions to improve hunting and recreational shooting access.

ā€œThis is a tremendous win for Americaā€™s gun owners and recreational target shooters and demonstrates what can be achieved when Congress works together for commonsense legislation that will improve access to safe firing ranges available to the public,ā€ said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. ā€œWe are thankful to Chairman Westerman for this bill to advance the interests of Americaā€™s sportsmen and women and for Congressman Blake Moore for ensuring that accessible and safe ranges are open in the public lands for all to enjoy.ā€

This legislation has the added benefit of supporting wildlife conservation and improving recreational shooting access. Recreational shooting is tied to approximately 85 percent of the Pittman-Robertson excise taxes currently being paid by firearm and ammunition manufacturers, making it a major driving contributor to wildlife conservation. Since the Pittman-Robertson excise tax was enacted in 1937, firearm and ammunition makers have paid $27 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars for conservation and construction and improvement of public recreational shooting ranges.

The EXPLORE Act builds on the success of NSSFā€™s priority Target Practice and Marksmanship Training Support Act, which was enacted into law in 2019. That law, also known as the ā€œRange Bill,ā€ allows states to use their Pittman-Robertson fund allocations to begin construction of new ranges or improve existing state-run public recreational shooting ranges. Prior to this lawā€™s enactment, states were required to put up 25 percent of the cost of range construction projects to access the matching 75 percent of Pittman-Robertson funds. Now, states can access those funds with a 10 percent match and will have five fiscal years to acquire land for range construction or expansion projects.

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34 COMMENTS

  1. While it’s nice that it is being considered at all is it better or worse than a snowballs chance in hell of getting anywhere?

    • Think along the lines of the next president.

      Anyways, I’m already suspicious of this one.

      Shooting is lawful already on many public lands, this can be twisted to force shooting at only those ranges, which will cost money.

      The devil is always in the details, and I trust *nothing* created, or signed into law by the Fascist-Marxist Leftist Scum ™… šŸ™

      • Geoff, I began shooting at the public range in the Apalachicola National Forest shortly after I left the army in my rearview mirror. That was 1983. Never paid a dime to shoot there. Unless you want to count the Pittman-Robertson Act. BTW, contributed to that again today.

        • There are county-run ranges here with facilities such as roof-covered shooting positions and RSOs (firing-line Nazis) that charge to shoot. It’s not a lot, but it exists…

      • There is a 100 yard range, not a great range, but a range, I have frequented on BLM land nearby. Free as long as shooters keep it picked up. (BLM has threatened to close it if we don’t.) That seems to be the case elsewhere in California. If people don’t pick up the trash, the range will be closed. Not too much to ask for a free range.

        • BLM should be disbanded and its employees flogged.

          Subsequently feeding them to lions is optional but encouraged.

        • “Subsequently feeding them to lions is optional but encouraged.”

          Lions? Pigs not fed in a few days will also do the trick…

        • These days we need a laugh and death by lions is one of the classic forms of entertainment.

          It’s far less depressing than what we’re going to get if Conservatives don’t pull their heads out of their asses (which will happen at about zero dark fuckin’ never so far as I can tell).

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-l6tHeseDY

      • The devil is always in the details, and I trust *nothing* created, or signed into law by the Fascist-Marxist Leftist Scum…

        Comon’ brah, you know you want DIVERSITY in your mandated RSOs!

        How else are you going to get an obese guy to yell at you about your shooting and then dress up like RuPaul on 59 hits of really good LSD and read erotic literature to your children?

        Don’t your kids need a high quality “muddy buddy” who can also scream at them about the unqualified evil of firing a gun more than one time a second?

        Obviously they do, and if you disagree then you’re quite clearly a bigoted “-phobe”.

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      • No matter how hard you deepthroat your daddy for tips, your OF page doesn’t bring in $285/hour.

    • I expect that the senate will amend this bill and remove the pro-gun portions just as long as they can spend SOME money to buy some votes from the tree huggers.

  2. I think the ā€œRange Billā€ explains why our local State range on a wildlife refuge was upgraded/renovated a few years ago. Itā€™s really quite nice now.

    • A WMA site I used to frequent when I was still an NJ gun owner finally decided to allow centerfire rifles on their 100 yd range at some point in the last five years. I guess someone realized it was a huge disservice to NJ hunters who take deer in PA, where you actually can use centerfire. Probably had to wait for some fudd in a senior position to retire or die of old age. They installed all new benches too.

      • Clinton WMA in Hampton, Hunterdon County, New Jersey.

        I have many great memories at that Range.

  3. Are they going to allow full auto? The hoodrats with switched Glocks need a place to safely recreate also. šŸ˜‰

    • No, but they will mandate DEI compliant RSOs.

      When they’re done complaining that you shoot too fast they can put on a dress, fuckloads of cheap makeup and fake boobs to read to/groom your kids/grandkids!

    • “nice benches.”

      Is that a euphemism for “Nice a*s” ?

  5. Dear TTAG (and contributor):
    Letā€™s dispense with the emotional games. NOTHING has been won. This is a bill, thatā€™s all. When it becomes law then it will be a win. The only pro-gun anything Biden will sign is something that arms our enemies (or have you not noticed that?).

  6. If theBiden signs okay on this bill I’d be very suspicious.
    Probably have his private army(BATFE) there to shute you and your whole damned family in the back.

  7. ā€œdemonstrates what can be achieved when Congress works togetherā€

    Which is probably why Biden will pass on it. Canā€™t have America working for the ā€˜realā€™ greater good.

  8. Has several negatives and a positive.

    The positive is that this is a strategically defensible position to begin from which is rare on the Right side of the aisle. “The Big Ask” as it were. Any subsequent negotiations start from the flag planted as the starting point by this. Nice that someone in the GOP gets that. Too bad the rest don’t.

    As for the negatives; this ain’t going nowhere and even if it does pass it’s nothing but an RSO job-security bill (slight over simplifcation/excess sarcasm, calm down girls) when you get down to it. Realistically, Geoff is probably right that it will introduce the insertion point for some regulation we don’t yet know about and will come to regret.

    Further: “driving economic growth in rural communities” cites facts not in evidence. This is NSSF propaganda spin.

    Further still, this will require ungodly amounts of Federal money that we don’t actually have. Siting and environmental impact statements will take years and cost insane amounts of money before the first chainsaw gently kisses the first tree. Then add in all the other problems with .gov contracting.

    I propose an entirely different solution: Divest federal lands because the US government already directly controls entirely too fucking much of the country in terms of land use. BLM shouldn’t exist as an agency.

    This can then be used to establish private ranges, free from the meddling of Federal Regulation to ensure “equity” in RSO hiring.

    Sorry, I don’t need a drag-wearing, rainbow flag waving, anti-racist diversity hire as my RSO. In fact, I don’t really need an RSO in the first place.

  10. Taxation is theft. BLM land was meant to be put to private use as quickly & practically as possible. Northwest Ordinance 1787.
    Schumer won’t bring it up for a vote. Odds Republican’ts won’t attach it to a must pass bill.

  11. When the Pittman Robertson act was we as a country, all agreed on the importance of the law. And we all agreed why it was needed.

    But now in the 21st century we don’t agree anymore. The Forest Service and BLM have been taken over by atheists. They are s0.cialist pr0gres.sive in their p.0litic@l 0rienta.ti0n.

    I agree with Vivek Ramaswamy. Or I should say he agrees with me. I’ve been saying the most dangerous threat to our liberty has been government employees.

    Fire all of them. About 2 million protected civilian government workers.

  12. When the Pittman Robertson act was we as a country, all agreed on the importance of the law. And we all agreed why it was needed.

    But now in the 21st century we don’t agree anymore. The Forest Service and BLM have been taken over by ath.eists. They are s0.cialist pr0gres.sive in their p.0litic@l 0rienta.ti0n.

    I agree with Vivek Ramaswamy. Or I should say he agrees with me. I’ve been saying the most dangerous threat to our liberty has been government employees.

    Fire all of them. About 2 million protected civilian government workers.

  14. If it passes the senate it will be because the democrats have attached a rider the is detrimental to the 2nd amendment (or there’s already something in the bill).

  15. Every county should’ve been required to maintain a range in our Constitution, where else were the Militia to train?

Comments are closed.