Update:  A bill to fix this issue was passed by the house & senate, sent to President Biden's desk and signed.  That's a huge win!

Help get Hunter’s Ed off the chopping block

You’ve heard the news by now. As part of a newly passed gun control law, the Biden Administration has banned federal education funding for hunter safety and education classes held at schools. The unprecedented move also pulls funding for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP). 

Hunter safety programs ensure millions of students at thousands of schools nationwide have the firearm and bow instruction they need to keep themselves and others safe in the field.

In 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) in the wake of two horrible mass murders in New York and Texas. Instead of simply striving to prevent future mass shootings, the bill also amended existing federal law to prohibit federal education funds from being used for any sort of “dangerous weapon” training. 

Now, schools across the country are receiving word from the Department of Education (DOE) saying that Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) funds cannot be used for any program involving these weapons.

Completely separate from hunter education programs provided by state fish and wildlife agencies through Pittman-Robertson, the funds being canceled by the Biden Administration cut programs offered through physical education and other extracurricular activities.

The interpretation of the BSCA law could simply be a broad and overly cautious attempt to avoid future mass shootings, or it could be driven by persistent anti-hunting interests. In either case, it’s an overt attack on hunters and our hunting tradition, and it kicks the legs out from under the nation’s largest program for firearms safety — something everyone should fully support.

Let your Congressional Leaders, Senators and D.O.E. Secretary Miguel Cardona know that you fully oppose the cancellation of funding for hunter safety in our schools and ask them to take the ban off the DOE’s chopping block.