U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum signed off on a Secretarial Order in late June to begin implementation of key provisions of H.R. 6492—the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)-supported Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences (EXPLORE) Act. The measure was signed into law last year.
The new order designates leadership responsibilities, establishes coordination mechanisms and ensures timeline compliance with all statutory deadlines to expand outdoor recreation opportunities on U.S. public lands and waters.
“The entire firearm and ammunition industry is grateful to President Donald Trump and to Secretary Doug Burgum for making the public safety and recreational benefits of the EXPLORE Act legislation an early focus and for carrying through on their promises to stand with America’s outdoorsmen and women in promoting more opportunities for all Americans to fully realize hunting and recreational shooting opportunities on public lands,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “These initial implementation orders are a tremendous win for America’s gun owners and recreational target shooters, who overwhelmingly fund wildlife conservation in America. We stand side-by-side with Secretary Burgum in celebrating today’s first steps and are looking forward to additional opportunities to do so again in the future as more of the EXPLORE Act becomes a reality.”
The bipartisan legislation includes the NSSF-priority Range Access Act, which requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), after consultation with local stakeholders, to build recreational shooting ranges in each BLM district and National Forest in areas where opportunities don’t already exist. These opportunities will allow for more access to public shooting ranges for target practice, a place to sight in rifles and shotguns before the hunting season and venues for in-person hunter safety education courses, all without competing against private ranges that offer the same opportunities.
The immediate benefit of the EXPLORE Act legislation provides increased public access to safe recreational shooting ranges, especially in rural areas. This legislation also 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 the major driving contributor to wildlife conservation. Since the Pittman-Robertson excise tax was enacted in 1937, firearm and ammunition makers have paid $27.38 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars for conservation, hunter education and the construction and improvement of public recreational shooting ranges.
Secretary Burgum also signed a Secretarial Order to strengthen coordination with gateway communities, or those adjacent to or that act as the primary access point to units of the National Park System. That order will recognize these communities as key stakeholders in System Unit management and planning, improve communication between the communities and the Department of the Interior, leverage federal programs to support these communities and institutionalize accountability for community engagement within the National Park Service management practices.
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