Typically, people on the political left are the supporters of environmentalism. Also, the political left tend to be the political group that want gun control. But, like so many political issues, while the same people often support these positions, when you dig deeper, it becomes clear that these should be opposing viewpoints.
Why? Because guns helps the environment.
Now, before you think that I’ve taken leave of my senses, there is a logic to this line of thinking, and, to be clear, the gun usage that we’re talking about it hunting. The fact of the matter is that hunting is a part of the ecosystem, and, therefore, hunters culling the herds actually helps the environment. Beth Baumann explains:
Hunters play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem. They keep animal populations from reproducing an abundant of offspring, which could actually turn a deer or elk population into a nuisance. These animals then overproduce and face a food shortage, which causes the population to die off. Hunting ensures that these animals’ numbers are manageable and their food supply is sustainable.
Not only are hunters managing the ecosystem in a positive way, but they’re also paying taxes that go directly back into conservation efforts. Anytime someone purchases a hunting license, that money goes into a pot used to help wildlife. The same thing goes for firearms and ammunition purchases. A tax, which varies state-to-state, is collected at the time of purchase to make sure no species becomes completely extinct.
According to NPR, about 60 percent of the funding for state wildlife conservation comes directly from licenses, firearms and ammunition purchases and angling equipment. Without the continual supply of hunters, that funding dries up.
It’s really a simple thing to understand once you step back to view the bigger picture beyond just “not killing animals” and “guns kill things so we shouldn’t have guns.” Not hunting means that more animals starve. Not hunting still, indirectly, kills animals. And not having guns is another way to limit hunting (let’s face it, not everyone wants to go bow or crossbow hunting).
So, the next time one of your environmentalist friends of family members starts griping at you about being a hunter, get them to take a step back and get a bigger picture. You, as a hunter, are an important part of conservation in America.
I once tried to explain this to a liberal. The idiotic come back was, well why can’t the deer be trapped alive and neutered. Only a very stupid person could believe this could work, and her second option was to introduce wolves back into a heavily populated agricultural area with livestock production. I recommended she pull up videos on the internet of wolf kills and tell me that is more humane than a clean kill with a firearm. The next time I saw her she was cooing about how natural the kills were when left to nature. She is a moron that is beyond help.
these people do not have a clue. they think nature is all bambi amd thumper. it is a waste of time to explain things to t
con’t. to explain things to them . they don’t want animals killed in the wild , but , when they overpopulate and eat their garden they cry to city hall to do something about the animal damage. go figure.
A problem I see with most so-called conservatives is that they are not interested in conserving. They’re not at all interested in preserving what we have, unless it is to their financial benefit. The biggest problem I see with these so-called conservatives is that so very many of them also call themselves pro-lifers. They are terribly concerned with the welfare of a fertilized egg and completely unconcerned with the welfare of a woman or girl who is forced to give birth to an unwanted infant. They seem to have even less concern for the welfare of said infant. A far better and more lasting answer to the ills that have befallen our world would be to limit the procreation of our species to a more sensible level of population. Far too many of individuals who regard themselves a conservatives are too caught up in and take far too much pride in the number of times they can replicate themselves and in how many grandchildren their offspring can reproduce. Their concept of conservation has brought us to the brink world-wide famine and the extinction of most of the other large animal species that have inhabited our home planet through the eons. Unless we, as a species, change our ways and our attitudes we are facing certain doom from overpopulation, and no amount of hunting or culling the herds is going to mean a damn. Unless we curtail the rampant and out of control population growth of our species there won’t be anything left to hunt. And neither God, nor Allah, nor anything else is going to save us. And before you label me as a tree-hugging libtard or any other idiot appellation the so-called conservatives find to be so enchanting to use, you should be made aware that I hunt and enjoy it. I have firearms, and I enjoy shooting them. I also think that there are a number of people in our midst who would benefit from their own demise, so, I guess I’m not liberal so much as I am progressive. Think about what I’ve written….if you are capable of it.
Les Lannom; To abort a child except in the case that it is of immediate threat to the mother’s life is flat out murder. It is also a contributing factor for the decay of a society. Abortion is not the way.
Agree with the article, and also the flip-side: that gun owners should be environmentalists. Gun owners should be concerned for protection of natural resources so they can continue to hunt (and fish) game that is clean and doesn’t have pollutants or industrial waste in it. Poisoning the land and water, clearcutting forests, etc. are against the interests of both the environmentalist and the gun-owner.
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