Anti-Hunting Measure Fails  Inslee-LoBiondo Polar Bear Amendment Defeated

FAIRFAX, VA. - The National Rifle Association (NRA) applauds today’s Congressional vote to defeat the Inslee-LoBiondo Amendment to H.R. 2643, the House Interior Appropriations bill. The amendment was defeated, 188-242.

“The defeat of the Inslee-LoBiondo Amendment is a significant victory for hunters and another demoralizing defeat for the anti-hunting Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA),” declared Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “The anti-hunting lobby persists in their effort to try to ban hunting, species by species, everywhere, even though the science and the facts are not on their side. Well today, those anti-hunting extremists lost.”

Led by the radical HSUS, and other anti-hunting organizations, the Inslee-LoBiondo Amendment attempted to revise H.R. 2643, the House Interior Appropriations Bill, to prohibit Americans from importing polar bear trophies acquired from hunting healthy and sustainable polar bear populations in Canada.

Contrary to untruthful claims, the Inslee-LoBiondo amendment would not reduce the number of polar bears killed by hunters in Canada. The amendment would, perversely, reduce funding for polar bear conservation by significantly decreasing the revenue raised through tag sales. Hunters provide funding and motivation for wildlife conservation worldwide. There is no better example of this than modern polar bear conservation efforts.

“On behalf of NRA members and sportsmen around the country, I want to commend those congressmen who steadfastly stood up for American hunters and opposed this bill. Many thanks to Reps. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Don Young (R-AK), Steve King (R-IA), Rob Bishop (R-UT), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Dan Boren (D-OK).”

Cox concluded, “Because of our longstanding support for America’s rich hunting heritage and sportsmen’s rights, the National Rifle Association weighed today’s vote very heavily as a factor when deciding endorsements and grades for the 2008 election cycle. This anti-hunting bill may present the only clear vote on a federal hunting issue this year.”

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Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America’s oldest civil rights and sportsmen's group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and to advocate enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation's leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the military.