DOCUMENTS: Guns, Excise Taxes, & Wildlife Restoration

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  April 2013:

Guns,  Excise Taxes,  & Wildlife Restoration by M. Lynne Corn & Jane G. Gravelle Congressional Research Service Free download from <www.crs.gov>

“As result of the recent debate over guns,  gun rights,  and gun-related violence,  there has been a marked increase in sales of many weapons as well as ammunition,”  opens this succinct five-page resumé of the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program.   The program,  created by Congress in 1937,  allocates funding from an excise tax on guns, ammunition,  and archery equipment that was initiated in 1919.  By law,  $8 million from the fund goes toward building and maintaining public target ranges,  called Enhanced Hunter Education;  $71.5 million goes toward Basic Hunter Education,  which includes promoting hunting;  and about $300 million funds wildlife restoration. This sum could increase to about $450 million in the next fiscal year,  with a proportionate increase in the money spent to promote hunting.                                            ––Merritt Clifton