High-court ruling boon for hunters

Today isn't the Fourth of July, but given the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago this week, it is all right to start our Independence Day celebrations earlier this year.

By a 5-4 vote, the Court affirmed once and for all that Second Amendment protections apply to American citizens at all levels of government and are not limited to prohibiting infringement of the right to keep and bear arms at the federal level alone.

I find it ironic, however, that as we celebrate our independence from a king's tyranny, it took yet another decision by the nation's highest court to remind our elected officials they cannot arbitrarily set aside the personal freedoms that our founding fathers established in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. What I can't understand is how the vote was not unanimous. After all, the Bill of Rights is written in pen and permanent ink, not pencil.

"Today's ruling is a victory for freedom and liberty," Stephen L. Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said in a news release. "All law-abiding Americans, no matter whether they live in a big city like Chicago or in rural Wyoming, have the same Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Constitutional rights don't stop at state or city borders. Cities like Chicago and New York and states like California must now respect the Second Amendment."

Otis McDonald filed his lawsuit in challenge to Chicago's gun ban after the Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) that the Second Amendment protects one's individual right to keep and bear arms. Together, the Court's decisions in these two cases firmly establish that each of us has the right to own and keep arms for self-defense, target shooting, collection hobbies or hunting. I never thought otherwise.

No doubt the anti-gun crowd will start shouting warnings from the rooftops that private gun ownership will lead to increased crime and violence in the streets. But I'm sure they won't be eager to note that Washington, D.C., and Chicago have not only the country's strictest gun control laws but also some of the nation's highest violent crime rates.

On another front, Rep. Denny Rehberg of Montana introduced a bill (H.R. 5523) "to protect the right of individuals to bear arms on Federal lands administered by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management." Rehberg introduced the legislation June 15 and was joined by 18 co-sponsors, including Reps. Dean Heller of Nevada, Jason Chaffetz and Rob Bishop of Utah and John Shadegg of Arizona.

The law created with this bill would prohibit the secretary of the interior and the secretary of agriculture from promulgating or enforcing "any regulation or executive order, including presidential declarations ... that prohibit an individual from possessing a firearm ... in any unit administered by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management."

Since most hunting in Nevada takes place on lands administered by those two agencies, this bill has a direct impact on Nevada sportsmen and women.

Reading through the bill's findings, it would appear this legislation would close administrative loopholes that would permit backdoor limitations on firearm possession by law abiding citizens on some federal lands.

On the subject of freedom, the Clark County Shooting Park has invited all active duty, retired personnel, reserves and National Guard members of the military to shoot a round of trap or skeet, or shoot for the day at the facility's public rifle-pistol center Sunday. All you have to do is present your military identification, and you will be able to enjoy these activities at no cost.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.