Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

Gun Control Lobby Seeks to Thwart SHARE Act with Hysteria, Fear Mongering

Friday, September 22, 2017

Gun Control Lobby Seeks to Thwart SHARE Act with Hysteria, Fear Mongering

Earlier this month we reported on the introduction of H.R. 3668, the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act. Within weeks of its introduction, the bill had a hearing before the House Natural Resource Subcommittee on Federal Lands and passed out of the full Committee on Natural Resources. The panic is now starting to set in amongst the gun control lobby, which is desperately searching for ways to smear a bill that has been around for years in various forms without attracting much attention from the usual anti-gun extremists.

The true reason for their discontent is not so much the bill’s content – concerned as it is with hunting, land access, and law-abiding gun owners – but with how the bill’s success threatens to expose as lies the narratives they’re pushing about the current administration and America’s attitude toward guns. Trump has been a disaster for the gun industry, they crow. The NRA is a paper tiger, they insist. America is over guns, they exclaim.

None of it, of course, is true.

Nor is most of what the media has said about the bill’s content accurate or enlightening.

As is typical when pro-gun legislation is on the move, newspaper writers who in many cases have never owned or shot a firearm conjure up indignant talking points about subject matter of which they have no understanding.

That’s why, for example, you had Dana Milbank of the Washington Point making claims about suppressors that the fact-checker of the very paper that employs him had already contradicted. And it’s why Gail Collins of the New York Times is shocked that long gun ammunition with non-lead projectile components (which she refers to as “armor piercing bullets”) is already on the market.

Even people who should know better are displaying their ignorance … or maybe just their opportunism to latch onto lucrative anti-gun consulting agreements.

A former ATF agent turned gun control lobbyist insisted at the bill’s recent hearing that several provisions of the SHARE Act would endanger law enforcement officers. Some of the same policy initiatives that he cited, however, were endorsed by ATF’s current second ranking official as opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens “without significantly hindering ATFs mission or adversely affecting public safety.”

A writer who claims to have been a park ranger also criticized a portion of the bill that seeks to standardize rules for carrying firearms on certain federal waterfront recreational areas with those already in place at national parks and national forests, among other federal lands. “Why does a hunter need to carry a firearm on Hoover Dam or Lake Mead, which gets 7 million visitors a year?” he asks. “Are there really good hunting opportunities on a lake filled with thousands of recreational boaters?”

The provisions in question, however, are aimed at carrying for self-defense, not hunting, which is already allowed on many of the areas that would be affected by this portion of the bill. That’s why the title he cites (and apparently didn’t bother to read) is captioned, “RECREATIONAL LANDS SELF-DEFENSE ACT.”


The same writer goes on to claim: “And then there are the provisions eliminating all restrictions on the purchase of silencers, eliminating restrictions on armor-piercing bullets, and eliminating restrictions on carrying firearms across state lines.”

The bill doesn’t do any of these things. Under the SHARE Act, the purchase of suppressors would remain subject to the same federal regulations as firearms themselves. Regulations on “armor-piercing bullets” would remain on the books but focus more clearly on the handgun ammunition that most threatens law-enforcement officers. And the bill does nothing to change rules about “carrying” firearms across state lines. It merely makes a current law protecting the transport of secured, unloaded firearms enforceable against anti-gun states and localities that have openly defied it.

But the primary concern of pro-gun Americans should not be the usual elites who are predictably criticizing legislation they don’t understand, but members of Congress who need to understand that law-abiding gun owners support it.

Please contact your U.S. Representative NOW and ask him or her to vote YES on H.R. 3668, the SHARE Act. You can call the Congressional Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your representative’s office, or you can send an email using our Take Action tool.

Your representative needs to hear from you TODAY to ensure the momentum building behind this historic legislation continues to grow.

TRENDING NOW
Last Chance for Gun Owners to Ask U.S. House to Amend the Reconciliation Bill

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Last Chance for Gun Owners to Ask U.S. House to Amend the Reconciliation Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives has another chance to amend the current Reconciliation Bill making its way through Congress. The Reconciliation Bill would currently rescind the unconstitutional tax on suppressors, but it doesn’t remove them ...

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Monday, May 19, 2025

Clueless Anti-gun Democrats Dig Themselves an Ever Deeper Hole

Anyone reading the firearm-related news these days is reminded that anti-gun Democrats appear oblivious to the blunt message sent by millions of American voters last fall. Despite Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris blowing through a mountain ...

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

News  

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

House Committee on Ways and Means Advances Legislation Involving Suppressors

Early this morning, The House Committee on Ways & Means, led by Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO-08) finished a markup of their section of the Reconciliation Bill. Included in this legislation was a provision which would ...

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Canada’s Gun Confiscation: Still Grasping for Solutions?

Last year, we wrote about how several previous enforcement schemes for Canada’s Liberal government’s 2020 gun ban and confiscation appeared to have fizzled out. 

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

News  

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Rocky Times for Gun Owners in the Rocky Mountain State

As the Colorado legislative session closes, its 2025 edition will long be remembered and lamented as a historic assault on the Second Amendment.

Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

News  

Monday, May 5, 2025

Anti-gun Lawmakers Attempt to Ban Essential Second Amendment Arms

On April 30, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the so-called “Assault Weapons Ban of 2025.” Picking up where his predecessor Dianne Feinstein left off, Schiff’s legislation would ban commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms, such as the AR-15.

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Friday, May 16, 2025

Arizona: Governor Hobbs Vetoes Three Pro-Gun Bills Passed by Legislature

Despite strong support from the Arizona Legislature, Governor Katie Hobbs has vetoed Senate Bills 1014, 1020, and 1143, each of which sought to protect and enhance the rights of law-abiding gun owners in the Grand Canyon ...

Another Court Determines Magazines Aren’t “Arms” in Upholding Arbitrary Limits

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Another Court Determines Magazines Aren’t “Arms” in Upholding Arbitrary Limits

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the state’s ban on magazines that hold over ten rounds, overturning a lower court order that had deemed it unconstitutional. The 7-2 decision in State v. Gator’s Custom ...

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

News  

Friday, March 21, 2025

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule entitled, Withdrawing the Attorney General’s Delegation of Authority. That bland title belies the historic nature of the measure, which is aimed at reviving ...

Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuits Involving Forced Reset Triggers

News  

Monday, May 19, 2025

Trump DOJ Settles Lawsuits Involving Forced Reset Triggers

On Friday, May 16, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the settlement of several lawsuits arising from the Biden-Harris regime’s attempt to reclassify forced reset triggers (FRTs) as “machineguns.” DOJ’s announcement cited President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.