Unfortunately, Politicians make most (in my opinion) decisions based on either keeping their jobs or money. For once this may help the sportsmen, as long as we make a point to let our elected officials know about the facts revealed in a report released by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation. The CSF sent a copy of this full report to all Members of Congress but I think that if we each sent our Representatives a copy it would do more good. The full report can be downloaded here.
Some highlights of the report are:
- America's 34 million hunters and anglers directly support 1.6 million jobs.
- They spend more than a billion dollars a year just in license, stamps, tags, and permit sales.
- They pay $25 billion in federal, state, and local taxes which is enough to pay the salaries 0f 527,900 police officers or 454,000 firefighters or 476,870 public school teachers.
- Taxes paid by hunters have enabled the purchase of more than 15.4 million acres of federal and state managed wilderness and national wildlife refuge land.
- If Sportsmen as a whole were a major corporation, they would be among the top 20 largest companies in the world. Revenue generated by sportsmen exceeds the combined revenues of Microsoft, Google, eBay and Yahoo.
- Fishermen spend more than $1 billion on the purchase of bait alone.
Economic impact is not the only "big stick" that us sportsmen carry. We also have tremendous political influence. Outdoor enthusiasts comprise 1/3 of all voters, one of the largest voting blocs in the nation. 8 out of 10 sportsmen say that a candidate's position on sportsmen's issues is important in determining for whom they will vote. 73% of Americans approve of hunting and 95% approve of fishing. Only 3% that appose either or both hunting and fishing are from an animal rights philosophy (isn't it surprising how we only hear about the animal rights issues in the media).
With this information we should all feel a little bit better about the future of our sporting life. However, we must use this information to our advantage the next time the animal rights groups threaten to take away what we all love. The Humane Society and PETA don't want people to know the truth and they are very aggressive and persuasive at pushing their view points. Make it a point to inform your Representatives about the financial impact that we as sportsmen make and more importantly the political clout that we have as a group. If they want their job for another term they had better look at who is footing the bill.
