The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) recently released a management plan for Ironwood Forest National Monument that proposes to ban all recreational shooting in the 128,000-acre forest. Ironwood Forest National Monument is currently open to dispersed recreational shooting and is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

However, if BLM’s preferred management alternative (Alternative C) is adopted, then ALL recreational shooting will be banned. It is critical that gun owners attend these meetings and in any written or oral comments regarding the BLM plan clearly and unequivocally state that safe, responsible recreational shooting must be preserved in Ironwood. Make no mistake, this is just the first step to banning all firearms and their usage on Federal property.  If the federal government can ban shooting on a vast rural area like Ironwood Forest National Monument, it can and it will ban shooting on all federal lands.  They must be stopped now! 

BLM has already held 3 public meetings to introduce these plans and allow the public the opportunity to comment.  BLM will be holding 2 more meetings this week in Sells and Tucson. Your attendance at these upcoming meetings is crucial!

April 10: Sells, AZ - Legislative Council Chambers, Main Street, 6 pm to 8 pm

April 12: Tucson, AZ - Pima County Parks & Recreation, 3500 West River Road, 2:30 pm to 4:30pm

Thanks to your support, NRA members have packed the first two BLM hearings to protest the proposed ban of recreational shooting.  However, your activism has not gone unnoticed.  Radical environmentalists intent on keeping everyone, including you, off "their" public lands are organizing in support of BLM’s plan. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has recently issued an "Action Alert" to its followers calling NRA members who attended the first two hearings "reckless recreational shooters."   The responsible, law-abiding citizens they attack are the same shooters and hunters who pay millions of dollars every year in Arizona for conservation projects and wildlife habitat through license fees and taxes on ammunition, firearms and other sporting equipment.  Sportsmen have proven time and time again that they are the nation's true conservationists. 

In contrast, the Center for Biological Diversity has a long record of attacking responsible gun owners and hunters.  Most recently it has been the driving force behind an attempt to ban the use of all lead ammunition for hunting in California.  The proposed ban has no basis in sound science.  We must not allow these radicals to prevail in the next BLM hearings.  They will be in attendance to advocate against your ability to use public lands for what has always been recognized as a legitimate use -- recreational shooting.

Please be sure to attend the remaining hearings!

In any written or oral comments regarding the BLM plan, attempt to keep your message simple by stating that safe, responsible recreational shooting must be preserved in Ironwood.  The growing campaign to ban recreational shooting on federal lands in Arizona and throughout the United States must be stopped! 

April 10: Sells, AZ - Legislative Council Chambers, Main Street, 6 pm - 8 pm

April 12: Tucson, AZ - Pima County Parks & Recreation, 3500 West River Road, 2:30 pm - 4:30pm

It is critical that gun owners attend these upcoming meetings and make their views known.  Comments are due by May 30 and can be submitted by mail to Mark Lambert, BLM Planner, Tucson Field Office, 12661 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ 85748, or sent via email to [email protected].

To review the management plans, go to http://www.blm.gov/az/LUP/ironwood/ironwood_plan.htm.