Last edited Wed Dec 2, 2015, 02:28 AM - Edit history (1)
The NRA Is Quietly Fighting For Your Right To Kill Elephants For Their Ivory
Last year, people around the world watched as
a gun lobbyist with his own NRA-sponsored cable TV show stalked a large bull elephant in the African bush, raised his rifle and shot it two times in the face, killing it. The hunter, NRA strategist Tony Makris, and his guide later sipped champagne and relished the "special" act of bringing back the animal's ivory to camp.
The segment was filmed for part of an "Under Wild Skies" show that was later canceled by the
NBC Sports Network after international outrage. It served as a graphic reminder that a number of African nations still allow hunters to purchase permits -- some
1,000 of which are issued to Americans every year -- to kill elephants from their
ever-dwindling populations, even amid reports that illegal poaching already claims the lives of up to 35,000 African elephants a year. This is allowed for the stated purpose of conservation: The hefty fees paid by these tourists are supposed to go toward efforts to rehabilitate and protect wildlife on these reserves, though
critics say the process is marred by corruption and ineffectiveness.
More stringent bans were recently enacted in some nations following catastrophic declines of elephant populations.
<I'm forced to snip out more good stuff you should read from here due to copyright restrictions. So, click the
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The NRA found their preferred solution in the form of a pair of Lawful Ivory Protection bills sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Rep. Steve Daines (R-Mont.).
In a release decrying the administration's "overreach of authority," the group called for members to stand up for "honest, law-abiding Americans" wishing to sell their ivory-containing possessions by calling on their representatives to support these bills. Tucked away in the last sentence was a mention of the legislation's secondary purpose, to protect the right of Americans to legally kill elephants for their ivory.
"Your actions today may determine if the sale and trade of firearms that contain ivory,
as well as the importation of sport-hunted elephants, will be banned," it read.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/12/nra-ivory-elephant-hunting_n_5671332.html
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