Idaho Shooters Target National Guard

(This is a disgrace!)


Apr 5, 4:19 AM (ET)

By JOHN MILLER

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - For years, ATV-riding, gun-toting sport shooters have
flouted gun laws in part of Idaho's high desert by taking pot shots at
ground squirrels and other animals.

Now, officials say, they're also setting their sights on National Guard
tanks that train in the area.

Rifles and pistols have been banned in a 68,000-acre area of the Snake River
Birds of Prey National Conservation Area since 1996.

But the federal Bureau of Land Management is considering expanding the
gun-restricted area by 41,000 acres to try to limit shootings at Idaho Army
National Guard troops who report slugs bouncing off their tanks on a regular
basis.

"There's a segment of the shooting community that will shoot at anything
that moves," said John Sullivan, the area's manager.

National Guard spokeswoman Lt. Col. Stephanie Dowling said she thinks the
proposed expansion would help alleviate the problem.

"What's happened over time, as the population has grown, we get more and
more people out there," said Dowling. "Not everybody uses good safety
precautions."

Idaho is the third-fastest growing state, after only Nevada and Arizona.

Rancher Tom Nicholson sees changes in the range as more people move to Boise
25 miles away, then drive out into this mostly open country looking for fun.

The region is part of a 490,000-acre federal preserve where prairie falcons
and eagles soar above, hunting ground squirrels that pop their heads by the
thousands above the warming earth.

With just two agents to patrol 4 million acres of desert near Boise, gun
enthusiasts regularly defy the ban by shooting squirrels, protected birds
and even grazing cattle, park officials say.

Because money is already stretched thin, land management agents generally
only cite illegal shooters they catch in the act. A photographer recently
captured what looked to be a squirrel gunner in a restricted part of the
conservation area, but even in that case, chances of prosecution are slim.

"If that was a photo of sufficient clarity that we could identify him, we
would seek to prosecute," Sullivan said.

Fewer than 10 people per year are ticketed for illegal shooting in the area
of the park, said Sullivan. A citation carries a penalty of up to a $1,000
fine and a year in prison.

Mark Fuller, director of the Rapter Research Center at Boise State
University, estimates that dozens of protected birds are shot annually in
the park, including in the restricted area.

He said the long-term negative effects on the park's 24 bird species
populations haven't yet been documented.

Nicholson, who owns thousands of cattle that graze in the park, said
shooters kill several each year.

He's remarkably forgiving, especially for someone who is out more than
$1,000 every time a cow dies.

"It's public land," Nicholson said. "They have as much right to be on the
range as we do."

Shotguns, which have a shorter range, are still allowed in the area.

The situation was even worse before the rifle-and-pistol ban in 1996,
Sullivan said.

Soldiers training for missions in Iraq or other war zones are only looking
for simulated battles, he said - not real bullets whizzing their way.

"It was like World War III on the weekends," he said.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learn about rec.guns at http://www.recguns.net
Win a one-of-a-kind Fulton Armory AR-15 tactical rifle while defending
liberty in a front-line state. MPFO raffle details at http://www.myguns.net
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
.

Relevant Pages

  • bibliography review for project
    ... Yampah (tuber- dirrect food source) ... Project Report- Idaho National Guard Training Area Cultural Resource ... U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Boise ... Flora of North America Editorial Committee. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Big Sky Mixed
    ... What happened in Idaho Falls? ... Missoula got the bid, defeating Boise 17-10 in the finals. ... Boise was 3-0 to our 2-0 when we played them, their last game ...
    (rec.sport.disc)
  • Re: So the boise st supporters.....
    ... So the boise st supporters..... ... have taken up the case for idaho. ... with losses to the likes of utep and san diego state. ... -beat northern illinois by 3 pts. ...
    (rec.sport.football.college)
  • Re: I do, I do, I _do_ believe in fairies...
    ... "The boys of Boise; furor, vice, and folly in an American city" by John Gerassi. ... '"Written in 1965 about a same-sex sexual scandal that occurred in 1955 in Boise, Idaho, John Gerassi's classic study depicts both middle America's traditional response to homosexuality and an era in the country's history before the modern gay rights movement really got underway. ... 'John Gerassi is professor of political science at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City College of New York. ... Peter Boag is professor of history at Idaho State University.' ...
    (soc.motss)
Loading