The next chairman of a key house committee with oversight over federal funding for wildlife conservation has a long history of opposing hunting, trapping, and gun ownership.

U.S. Representative Jim Moran (D- VA) is expected to be named Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This subcommittee oversees funding for the Department of Interior and its various agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This makes this chair one of the most powerful positions influencing public policy on federal lands including whether to keep such land open to sportsmen.

Rep. Moran has sponsored and cosponsored a number of anti-hunting and anti-trapping bills during his time in Congress. One of his most high profile battles against sportsmen was an effort to ban the use of bait to hunt black bears on federal land despite being considered a valid management option by wildlife professionals in numerous states. This effort earned him the support of the nation’s leading anti-hunting group, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

By Chad D. Baus

On Thursday, February 25, Athens News editor Terry Smith, who also teaches journalism courses at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, published an editorial on the topic of the state and national tea party movement in which he encouraged Congressman Democrat Zack Space to refuse an invitation to appear at an event.

While the greater scope of Smith's article falls outside of the scope of this website, the editor made comments about Buckeye Firearms Association that need to be addressed.

From the editorial:

In a news release issued Monday, the Ohio Liberty Council, describing itself as "a non-partisan grass-roots volunteer organization comprised of leaders from tea party and other liberty-minded groups," said it has invited all the candidates running in the 18th Congressional District primary election in May.

The Liberty Council's coalition includes the Buckeye Firearms Association (a hard conservative political group that disguises itself as a gun-rights outfit), "9/12 projects" in Central Ohio and Columbus (groups inspired by Fox News flamethrower Glenn Beck), tea parties in Dayton and Cincinnati, and other "liberty" groups. (emphasis added)

I found Smith's reference to Buckeye Firearms Association as "a hard conservative political group that disguises itself as a gun-rights outfit" to be quite interesting, given our history of endorsing the strongest candidate on our one issue, no matter what their party, and wrote to tell him so.