Congressman Tracey Mann has decided for political expediency to “Stick it to Democrats” at the expense of Kansas hunters, fishermen and anyone who uses Kansas’ wild areas for recreation. He is supporting knee jerk legislation (H.R. 8167) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal certain excise taxes related to firearms introduced by Congressman Andrew Clyde of Georgia.

Personally, I am a Second Amendment purist, but this (is) ill-conceived legislation. Rep. Mann is acting in response to Congressman’s Don Beyers 1,000 percent excise tax — Assault Weapons Excise Act — on semiautomatic rifles and high capacity magazines passed through the house by Democrats.

To project “I’m more pro-gun,” Mann is a co-sponsor on doing away with all excise taxes on guns and ammo.

Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act passed with bipartisan support in 1937. This legislation took an existing excise tax from the era on firearms and dedicated those monies to fund state wildlife agencies. It provided matching federal grants to states for wildlife restoration projects. The excise tax is 10 percent on handguns and 11 percent on long guns, ammo, bows and arrows.

Kansas received over $20 million of Pittman-Robertson funds in 2020. That is $20 million that went to wildlife law enforcement, state parks and Wildlife Public Land Grants. Congress Mann wants to do away with funding that pays for the Kansas Walkin Hunting Areas (WIHA), primarily Western Kansas farmers, to allow public hunting. Ellsworth businesses enjoy a revenue boost from out-of-town hunters during the fall who come to enjoy the wild places and hunt our local WIHA areas. This legislation would have a detrimental effect on Kansas wildlife and tourism.

Just because the Democrats are nuts does not mean our Republican representative needs to be just as nuts. All the major gun and ammo manufacturers in the United States support Pittman-Robertson as they know their customers need game and places to hunt. They see this tax as providing their customers with the opportunity to use their products.

For over 80 years we have had a protected source of Federal Revenue to protect our wildlife and H.R. 8167 would do away with that protected source of revenue. I understand the Democrat party is “gun-grabbing” and we should fight that vociferously, but doing away with the funding for wildlife provided by Pittman-Robertson is just asinine.

For the sake of public wild areas please contact Congressman Mann to drop his co-sponsorship of H.R. 8167 but continue to support our gun rights in other ways.

Robert Laubengayer

Ellsworth