Gulf Red Snapper

Gulf Red Snapper Fishery Management

Red Snapper

Red Snapper

Editor’s Note: The following is an opinion piece by Louisiana Congressman Garrett Graves in response to a story that ran across the Gulf Coast recently (http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2016/01/kingpins_of_the_gulf_make_mill.html) . As you’ll read, Congressman Graves is among those quite unhappy with the way the Gulf of Mexico’s plentiful red snapper fishery is being managed.
from The Fishing Wire

How would you feel if the federal government took all of the gold in Fort Knox and gave it to a few dozen unelected, unaccountable people to decide how to manage it behind closed doors? How would you feel if that same small group unsurprisingly decided to split the country’s gold among themselves – each becoming multi-millionaires? If our government gave away the public’s property for free and allowed millionaires to be born overnight by diverting that public’s property to themselves, I’d be pretty upset – and I am.

As Ben Raines’ weekend article in the Times Picayune and AL.com illuminated, the federal government has hand-picked dozens of multi-millionaire “Sea Lords” by allowing them to control the red snapper fishery in the Gulf of Mexico. While these select few “Sea Lords” are making millions from our fish, the season for recreational anglers – who used to be able to fish for red snapper all year long – has been absurdly diminished. In 2015, the recreational red snapper season was ten days.

The agency charged with managing our national fishery, the National Marine Fisheries Service, conducted a study on the health of red snapper fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico. You’ll be shocked to learn that federal government’s methodology and results were grossly inadequate. Their analysis failed to include reef areas – the actual habitat of red snapper, a reef fish. Think about that. It’s like looking for polar bears in Louisiana, finding none, and declaring the population to be at risk of extinction.

Let me be clear, the sustainability of our fisheries is paramount. It is critical that we employ the best science to responsibly manage them and to support their long-term viability. It’s no secret that Louisiana is home to some of the nation’s top restaurants that rely on the supply of fresh, wild seafood to meet demand. Some argue that expanding recreational access would lead to overfishing and threaten commercial interests. This mentality has bred the current system of a government sanctioned oligarchy that monopolizes a public resource. And it has punished tens of thousands of families across the Gulf Coast that enjoy fishing in Sportsman’s Paradise. Luckily, there is another way.

In July of last year, I introduced HR 3094, the Gulf States Red Snapper Management Authority Act in the US House of Representatives. The bill simply gives the five Gulf States’ Wildlife Departments the authority to manage the red snapper that live offshore their coast. This approach favors local control and would transfer management decisions to the professionals who are closest to the fishery. In Louisiana for example, our Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has demonstrated a commitment to using the best science to sustainability manage our fisheries through efforts like the agency’s LA Creel program, which helps to provide an accurate count of red snapper fish stocks in our coastal waters. Today, HR 3094 has nearly 30 bipartisan sponsors from across the nation.

The fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico are public property and should be enjoyed by all – not managed like a long-abandoned “sharecropper” model that enriches a select few. Sometimes all it takes is a little sunshine on bad policy to fix things. To quote Herbert Hoover, “all men are equal before fish.” Let’s enact HR 3094 so we can ALL enjoy the Gulf’s bounty.

– Garret Graves, Member of Congress

Small Game Hunting

If you like deer hunting, the bad news is, “deer season is over.” If you like small game hunting, the good news is, “deer season is over.” For another month those of us that like to hunt squirrels, rabbits, quail and other game have the woods and fields to ourselves.

There is little danger from a deer hunter shooting someone in the woods hunting squirrels, but you still worry a little, even if you are wearing fluorescent orange. Even when on my own land I wear an orange vest when walking in the woods during deer season. Nobody else is supposed to be out there, and I try to be safe, but still feel a little uneasy.

During February there is little worry anyone will be in the woods deer hunting and you can enjoy trying to outwit a tree rat as it goes around a tree trunk to hide from you. With the leaves off the trees you can see them moving a long way off and stalk up to them. But the leaves off the trees also means they can see you coming so you have to be even stealthier.

Hunting rabbits without dogs is difficult but can be done. It is easier to find where they are feeding now that most plants are dead and kicking a brush pile near a green field might give you a shot. Quail hunting it just about useless without a dog, though.

Unfortunately, coyotes, fire ants and changing land use means rabbits and quail are much more rare than when I was growing up. So take up coyote hunting. There is no season on them and this time of year is tough on them, too, so they are more likely to come to a wounded rabbit call.

I have had the chance to shoot a coyote from my deer stand a few times but it is hard for me to pull the trigger, they just look too much like my pet dogs.
But if you concentrate on the damage they do to native wildlife, and the fact they are not native and should not live around here, it is easier.

Growing up I hunted squirrels as fanatically as I bass fish now. I often went in the mornings before school and almost every afternoon after school. And every Saturday in season I was in the woods at daylight and stayed till dark. Back then you could not hunt on Sunday so that was my only day off.

Squirrel hunting is a great way to train a kid on safe gun handling in the woods and how to stay quiet and learn the ways of nature. It is also a good way to teach them to use what they shoot since there are many ways to cook tree rats. If you have a kid that wants to hunt, take them squirrel hunting. They will be a better deer hunter in the future if you do.

Atlantic Salmon

Atlantic Salmon: A Species in Need of a Spotlight

NOAA Fisheries
from The Fishing Wire

Atlantic Salmon

Atlantic Salmon

“The coincidence, at least, in the erection of the dams, and the enormous diminution in the number of the Alewives, and the decadence of the inshore cod fishery, is certainly very remarkable. It is probable, also, that the mackerel fisheries have suffered in the same way, as these fish find in the young Menhaden and Alewives an attractive bait. The same remarks as to the agency of the Alewives in attracting the deep-sea fishes to the shores and especially near the mouths of rivers, apply in a proportional degree to the Shad and salmon.”

-Marshall McDonald, 1884.

Atlantic salmon are an iconic New England species. In addition to the ecosystem role these fish play, they have been an important indicator of economic health in our region. Atlantic salmon once supported lucrative commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as the small bait shops, gear stores, and amenities for fishermen that contributed to the economy. Before this, Atlantic salmon were important to Native American tribes for historical and cultural reasons. Tribes relied on watersheds and their natural abundance of sea-run fish, including Atlantic salmon, for physical and spiritual sustenance.

In the 1900s Atlantic salmon from Maine were so highly valued that for more than 80 years, the first one caught in the Penobscot River each spring was presented to the U.S. President. The last Presidential salmon was caught in May 1992 by Claude Westfall, who presented a 9.5 pound Atlantic salmon to President George H.W. Bush. Westfall’s was the last presidential salmon because there are now too few adult salmon to sacrifice one even for the President.

Because of significant declines in returning Atlantic salmon, the Atlantic salmon commercial fishery closed in 1948, and the recreational fishery closed in all Maine waters in 2008. In 2000, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. The fish, which were historically native to almost every river north of the Hudson, had only remnant wild populations in 11 rivers, all of them in Maine. In the 15 years since their 2000 listing, Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon have not shown signs of improvement.

To draw attention to this iconic species and our plan for saving it from extinction, NOAA Fisheries recently launched the “Species in the Spotlight—Survive to Thrive” initiative. Atlantic salmon are one of the eight highly at-risk species in the nation that we have identified as needing special attention. These endangered species have declining populations, but also have a high probability of survival if we can marshal the resources to turn their trajectories around.

As part of the Species in the Spotlight initiative, we developed a five-year roadmap to aid the recovery of Atlantic salmon. The plan, which will be released in early 2016, outlines specific actions to save this species and will involve our regional partners in conservation. The primary focus of the plan is to restore access and quality to river habitat in Maine and work to better understand and address threats in the marine environment.

SALMON IN RIVERS ARE LIKE CANARIES IN A COAL MINE

Atlantic Salmon at dam

Atlantic Salmon at dam


Atlantic salmon are anadromous fish which means they spend a portion of their lives in freshwater and a portion in the ocean. Anadromous fish are indicators that the links between freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosystems are clean and well-connected. The connections within the ecosystem are so strong that many of the factors that are impacting salmon’s survival are also affecting other species such as American shad, alewives and even some marine fish stocks such as Atlantic cod. Healthy anadromous fish populations support important marine food webs, providing a forage base for commercially important species like striped bass, cod, and haddock. When river systems are blocked or are too polluted to support these fish populations, the effects are felt throughout the entire ecosystem. The return of Atlantic salmon, along with other anadromous fish, would indicate the return of a healthy and connected system.

FROM RIVER TO SEA: TOO MANY DAMS

“The principal decline in the New England salmon fishery considerably antedated 1880, however, and was coincident with the erection of dams or other barriers to the passage of fish” – C. Atkins (1894).

One complicating factor for Atlantic salmon is that they are anadromous fish. When they return from the seas between Northeastern Canada and Greenland to the rivers to spawn, hundreds of dams block or impair their ability to reach the critical freshwater habitats that are still capable of supporting spawning. As noted in the quote above, this problem was created over many, many years and so, it will take time to restore connectivity for this species.

Listing Atlantic salmon as endangered in 2000, and expanding the listing to include large rivers like the Penobscot and Kennebec in 2009, helped spur 35 fishway constructions and dam removal projects in Maine, including the removal of two major hydroelectic dams (Great Works and Veazie) as part of the Penobscot River Restoration Project. Since the Penobscot River is home to roughly 75 percent of the adult Atlantic salmon returns in the U.S., restoring access to this river is particularly important. In the Penobscot River basin alone, there are still more than 130 dams that block or impede access to approximately 90 percent of salmon’s historic spawning and nursery habitat. There is still much work to be done.

REMOVALS LEAD TO RETURNS

Dam removals can bring back fish to habitat that was previously inaccessible. After the removals of the Fort Halifax Dam (2008) and the Edwards Dam (1999) on the Kennebec River, alewife and blueback herring (collectively called river herring) returns increased from less than 100,000 in 2006 to more than 2,150,000 in 2015. Similarly, on the Penobscot River, after the Great Works (2012) and Veazie (2013) Dam removals, along with improved passage at other upstream dams, documented returns of river herring increased from 2,000 in 2011 to an estimated 585,000 in 2015. Roughly 1,800 American shad passed the Milford Dam (now the first dam on the Penobscot River) for the first time in 100 years. Additionally, in Fall 2015, researchers found three endangered shortnose sturgeon in habitat upstream of the Veazie Dam remnants for the first time in a century. In 2015, biologists counted 731 Atlantic salmon at the Milford fish lift. (See map of Penobscot River Restoration Project).

STEPS TO RECOVERY

Our five-year action plan outlines specific actions to stop the decline of this species and put it on a path towards recovery, including restoration of the ecological connections between the freshwater and marine environment and restoration of habitat quality. Among the pieces of the plan are to: review hydroelectric power plant dams up for licensing to ensure that they have effective fish passage; encourage removal of dams and other barriers to fish passage where possible; work with other countries to limit Atlantic salmon catch in the ocean; and, continue research and monitoring of Atlantic salmon.

You can help by encouraging or participating in programs to conserve and restore land and water resources that benefit migratory fish and promote abundant, suitable and accessible habitats for Atlantic salmon. This can include working with communities to remove or provide passage around blockages such as round culverts or dams that block or impair movement of Atlantic salmon, maintaining forested riparian areas around rivers and streams, and implementing land use practices that protect streams from pollution and excessive erosion.

For more information on this initiative and what you can do to help Atlantic salmon, please contact Kim Damon-Randall, Assistant Regional Administrator for Protected Resources at Kimberly.Damon-Randall@noaa.gov.

Lake Sinclair Bass

What a difference a week makes! After my best catch ever at Sinclair two weeks ago I could not wait to go to the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament there last Sunday. And in it, after eight hours of casting, I had exactly one bite and caught one Lake Sinclair bass!

In our tournament ten members and two youth fished from 8:00 AM till 4:00 PM on a day that started very cold but warmed up a lot. We landed 11 keepers weighing about 25 pounds. There were no limits and six fishermen didn’t land a keeper.

Sam Smith won with four bass weighing 9.87 pounds and Niles Murray came in second with two at 5.54 pounds and his 4.34 pound largemouth won big fish, beating Sam’s 4.33 pounder by one one-hundredth of a pound! Robert Proctor had one keeper weighing 3.21 pounds for third, Raymond English finished fourth with two t 2.71 pounds, my 2.15 pounder was fifth and Russell Prevatt round out the folks catching fish with one at 1.68 pounds for sixth.

Sam said he caught his fish on a spinnerbait fished beside dock post first thing that morning. Robert said he caught his on a jig head worm. Raymond and Niles fished together and said they caught their fish on Carolina rigs.

I had my good catch the weekend before on a Rapala DT 6 crawfish colored crankbait and I made hundreds of casts with it, but got only one bite. Garrett Macyszyn fished with me on the youth side and cast a variety of baits but I just could not get us where the fish were feeding.

At Dennis Station at daylight the water was in the low 40s, about ten degrees cooler than the week before. But down the lake I saw water as warm as 52 degrees, only a few degrees cooler. But the sun was bright after the cold front that came through here after the snow, and I think bluebird skies and high pressure always hurts the fishing. Bass just don’t like those conditions and don’t feed much.

The water was still very muddy but that had not stopped the bass from feeding. The day before we fished, on Saturday, I heard there was a 12 team tournament in the high winds. Only five of the teams caught fish but two of them had limits, and there were three bass weighing over six pounds each weighed in.

As the water starts warming the end of February Sinclair should produce some outstanding catches since there seems to be a lot of four to six pound bass there this year.

What Is A Winter Tackle Tune-up?

Time for a Winter Tackle Tune-up

By Frank Sargeant
from The Fishing Wire

It hasn’t been pretty outside the last few weeks across much of the nation, to say the least. Boat ramps on lakes across the Southeast were empty, and though we’re seeing some warmer weather the last few days, spring is still a long way off.

What’s an angler to do?

One good use of a Saturday between the end of college football and the start of pre-spawn bassing is a tackle tune-up. If you’re like me, your gear is looking a bit the worse for the wear by this time of year.

The seasons change seamlessly from the buzzbait bite to the spinnerbait bite to the crankbait bite to the jig bite to the frog bite to the rattlebait bite, and my stuff simply keeps getting tossed into the box and progressively forgotten as I move on to the next season of the bass. By now, everything is a tangled mess, and digging out or even finding a particular lure that I might need for early spring is going to be a serious challenge that has me picking through a Chinese puzzle of treble hooks to get it free.

One of the major solutions to the lure morass is to add more tackle boxes, or more dividers in your existing tackle boxes. In my experience, it’s actually better to have fewer lures that you can actually find and get out of the box without tangles than it is to have hundreds that you can’t locate or can’t extricate when you need them.

Tackle box from Plano

Tackle box from Plano

Tackle boxes like this model from Plano are ideal for keeping crankbaits and other treble-hook lures out of tangles and ready for instant access. (Plano, Inc.)

Plano is the big dog in tackleboxes, of course, and their venerable 3700 size is the standard of the industry–it fits the slots on every make of bass boat. Buy enough of these boxes–and they come designed especially for spinnerbaits, for small crankbaits, for large crankbaits and lots more–and you will solve your tackle tangles permanently.

It’s best to use only one lure per partitioned slot in any box–put two in one and you’ve got a tangle. I like to point all my lures the same direction and separate them by color and size or the “dives to” depth–it makes finding that one you need a whole lot easier. Label each box according to the class of lures they hold, and you’ve come a long way towards a far more organized and fishable boat. (If you’ve got vertical tackle racks, label the boxes both on the top and on the front, the part you see when they’re in the racks.)

This is also the time to review the “walking wounded” among your lures. Any plug that has been used for a few months is likely to have hooks that are dulled or bent out of shape. Dull hooks lose fish, and out of shape hooks change the action of many lures, making them less effective. Buy several sizes of new trebles from one of the quality makers–VMC, Mustad, Trokar and Gamakatsu among others–and a pair of split-ring pliers, and replace any hooks that look at all doubtful. (This is not a bad time to try some larger hooks on some of your crankbaits, either–many anglers find they get better hookups by going up one size, particularly on the front hook.)

Tackle box from Bass Mafia

Tackle box from Bass Mafia

Bass Mafia boxes are reinforced plastic with rubber gaskets and locking latches that make them watertight—great protection for tackle, though they’re among the more expensive on the market. (Frank Sargeant Photo)

If you’ve got some spare change rattling around in your pockets, you might even consider adding some Bass Mafia tackle boxes to your rig. While these bullet-proof, water-proof boxes cost an arm and a leg, they’re cool looking and they do keep your stuff absolutely safe from damage anytime that lock-down lid is secured on the rubber gasket.

Last but not least, this is a good time to peel off all your old line, clean and lube your reels, and then install fresh line. Then, just wait for those first warm afternoons to announce that spring is finally just around the corner.

Acquisition of Cabela’s by Bass Pro Shops

Industry Rumbling: Cabela’s

Here’s the latest on the Cabela’s situation, from our publisher and editor of The Outdoor Wire, Jim Shepherd.
from The Fishing Wire

With SHOT Show barely ended, there are plenty of interesting reports filtering out regarding the industry. More, in fact, than those we were hearing when we arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada for the nearly-impossible task of covering a trade show that has grown more than a quarter-million square feet over the past five years.

Not all the reports we’re hearing are about new products or services, despite the fact we have been fixated on the latest and greatest offerings from the more than 1,200 exhibitors. In fact, most of the questions being asked concern rumors that had begun circulating prior to SHOT.

When a rumors of an acquisition of Cabela’s by Bass Pro Shops died shortly before Christmas, speculation began to spread (on Wall Street) that Cabela’s (NYSE: CAB) was one of those companies that was ripe for change.

That change, according to Wall Street sources, wasn’t necessarily something the company was seeking.

On November 23, Bloomberg Business reported that speculative investors were in favor of seeking a suitor, but would not accept an acquisition price than something “in excess of $60/per share.” Other reports had a target price of nearly $72/share. Those prices, according to sources on Wall Street, were the primary reason BPS quietly disappeared from the picture.

At that time, Bloomberg reported that Hirzel Capital Management, owners of 2 percent of the company, were the activist investor. Bloomberg reported Hirzel was pushing the retailer to consider “strategic alternatives, including selling its credit-card unit and property.” Hirzel’s suggestion was reportedly rejected by Cabela’s CEO Tommy Millner who advocated for spending more than $500 million in a share buyback to boost value.

At that point, Cabela’s rumors quieted.

In today’s news section, you’ll see that Cabela’s is again back in the investment news.

With the fourth quarter and full-year 2015 earnings release set for just before the market opens on February 18, the New York Post is now reporting that the company plans to divest itself of its credit card unit. Nothing from Cabela’s on those reports as of the close of business last night. Meanwhile, the company’s activist investors continue to push for the company to sell- either the credit card division or the entire company.

Cabela’s shares gained eleven cents yesterday, closing at $41.49.

As the rumors continue across the New York and Chicago investment communities, both officials and residents of Sidney, Nebraska remain on edge. Of the approximately 7,000 residents of Sidney, nearly 2,000 work for Cabela’s.

We’ll keep you posted.

Potato Creek Bassmasters January Tournament at Lake Sinclair

On a fun note, I finally joined the Potato Creek Bassmasters. I had been thinking about it for years but fishing three tournaments a month seemed to be too much. But now I seem to only get the energy to go fishing when I have a tournament or an article to do, so I joined to make myself go more.

There is an old saying “even a blind hog will find an acorn every now and then.” I got real lucky in my first tournament with the club at Sinclair last Saturday and felt more like a pro than a Joe. Days like that make me wonder why I can’t do it more often.

In the Potato Creek Bassmasters January tournament at Lake Sinclair, 16 fishermen brought in 25 bass weighing 58.59 pounds. There were two five-fish limits and four people didn’t land a 12 inch bass in the seven hours we fished.

I won with five weighing 17.98 pounds and had a 5.59 pound largemouth for big fish. Niles Murray came in second with a limit weighing 11.39 pounds, Raymond English had three at 7.24 for third and Buddy Laster was fourth with2 at 5.76 pounds.

I had the kind of day I usually only dream of having. We started at 9:00 and at 9:15 I landed a four pound bass on a DT 6 crankbait off a dock post. Then at 10:15 I caught the five pounder on the same crankbait off a boat ramp.

For the next four hours I fished docks and rocks and landed two more keepers off dock post and lost two.

Then at 3:30 I caught another four pound bass on a clay point, again on the same crawfish colored crankbait.

The Sportsman Club is at Sinclair today for our February tournament. I probably used up all my luck last week and won’t catch a keeper today!

Red Snapper Management in the Gulf of Mexico

Thank You, Shelby, Graves and Scott

Editor’s Note: Today’s feature comes to us from Jeff Angers at the Center for Coastal Conservation.
from The Fishing Wire

Recreational anglers got an early Christmas present this year, and if you live in Alabama, Georgia or Louisiana, you have a Member of your state’s Congressional delegation to thank for it.

Alabama’s senior Senator, Richard T. Shelby and U.S. Representatives Garrett Graves (R-La.) and Austin Scott (R-Ga.) spearheaded a series of provisions in the year-end spending bill that are very important for red snapper management in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mindful of the federal government’s bungling of the fishery and obviously aware of the impact recreational anglers have on the economy of the Gulf coast, the provisions require the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fund and incorporate agency-independent stock assessments for Gulf reef fish, including the red snapper.

Unlike previous surveys, this one will actually include the many artificial reefs (including offshore oil-and-gas structures) where the red snapper actually are!

Best of all, recreational anglers will get an increased allocation from any increases in the red snapper population that are discovered in the new assessment.

The three legislators should also be congratulated for giving state fisheries managers a greater role in managing the fishery; the measure also includes an extension of the state fishery management boundaries from three to nine miles from shore in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to these legislators, but if you live in Alabama, Georgia or Louisiana, please take a moment to personally thank Sen. Shelby, Rep. Scott or Rep. Graves.

Let them know their work is appreciated by recreational anglers like us – but also by hotels, restaurants, tackle shops and marine dealers all across the Gulf. They are the real winners whenever recreational anglers go out on the water.

Social Media and Fishing

Social Media and Fishing

Since you are reading this on-line there is a good chance you have a Facebook page, a Twitter account or are active on some other form of social media. Social media and fishing go together in a lot of ways.

I have a Facebook page and a Twitter account and spend way too much time on Facebook. But I am learning that you have to be discriminating on what you click on. Just because something has an interesting title, or a picture of a fish does not mean it is worth looking at on Facebook.

Some things are an instant turn off to me and keep me from clicking on the post. Anytime a fisherman is shown in a picture holding up a bass or any other fish, and the fisherman has his mouth open wide, I instantly wonder if he is so surprised he actually caught a fish his open mouth shows his shock, or if he is trying to catch flies.

If there is just a picture of a fisherman smiling or grinning like he is happy to be holding up a big fish it gets my attention, but if there is no caption, no information about the picture it is a turn off and I know if I click on it I still won’t get any information. If you post a picture of you and a fish at least tell where you were fishing. A little about what you were using and how you caught it helps, unless you make your post an advertisement. Saying you could not have made the catch without using one of your sponsor’s products is just plain silly. That bass would not have hit your crankbait unless you were using a certain brand of rod? Sure thing.

Even worse than no information is the current trend of posting a dozen or so hashtags for sponsors or something -again, no info, just a string of words with a “#” in front of them that tell you absolutely nothing about the picture – worth nothing but a fast scroll on to something informative.

Even worse than a mouth open gaping pose with a fish are some buzz words. If they are in the title or caption I will not look at them. Thankfully, they are usually not used with fishing posts.
“Life changing” is another buzz comment I refuse to look at on social media. If my life is so miserable a Facebook post can change it, I am beyond hope. Better to just go fishing! And if something is “epic’ why do I have to hear about it on Facebook? According to the “Urban dictionary” epic is the most over-used word on the internet, followed by ‘’fail,” another buzz word I ignore. And if it is an “”epic fail” you better watch out!

“Game Changer” in a heading makes me change to another topic so I guess it really is a game changer. “Life Changer” is even worse. For some reason I kinda doubt a picture on the internet is going to change my life! Arnold said “Make My Day” and it became iconic, but no web page is going to make my day. I have a life.

Social media is fun but there are definitely some things I don’t like. How about you?

Dangerous Gun Control Laws

I would laugh if it wasn’t so dangerous. The gun ban flakes think they have used up the lie “gun show loophole” since President Obama said he is illegally taking action to put into effect a law the representatives of the people have refused to pass three different times. So now those gun banners are calling for action on the “Charleston loophole.” Their gun control laws are dangerous and silly.

I heard Hillary use that term a couple of times in the democrat debate this past week and another liberal use it on a talk show. What do they want? No time limit on an answer on the “Instant” background check. So the government can delay your purchase of a gun for an unlimited time.

Right now, if the government can not return an answer on a check on the instant background check within three days the sale can go through. The reason the law was worded that way was to prevent the government from stalling and preventing law-abiding citizens from getting guns. The check is supposed to be instant but they have three days to do it. Gun banners want unlimited, meaning never ending, time.

Think that won’t happen? Many places delay and delay issuing carry permits because they can delay, without giving any reason for the delay. The most famous case of this happening is Carol Brown in New Jersey. She had a restraining order against her violent ex-husband but applied for a gun permit since she knew she could not defend herself with a piece of paper. He stabbed her to death. Her having a gun could have saved her life.

The New Jersey law says the local police are supposed to rule on permits within 30 days, a ridiculously long time to wait to defend yourself. But Browne had applied for her permit on April 21 and was killed in June, well over the 30 day delay. And waiting over 30 days is the norm for police departments in New Jersey that have no legal reason for denying permits, so they just sit on them and illegally deny the permit.

Gun banners whine that I, and fellow NRA members like me, won’t compromise for “common sense” gun laws. But what they propose have nothing to do with common sense, and they are never satisfied, as the “Charleston loophole” mantra shows. Compromise to them means do what I want today so I can demand further ridiculous restriction tomorrow.

These same folks are still lying about the law on suing gun sellers and manufacturers and also on the law on gun research. These folks want to sue gun manufacturers and sellers if a gun is used in a crime. That is like suing Texaco and the local gas station because an arsonists bought gas from them to burn down a house.

It is legal to sue if a gun malfunctions – just like with any other product. But the gun haters want to be able to sue if the gun works but the user commits a crime with it. That is just not rational.

And gun research is legal. A law bans government funding of research that starts with the goal of banning guns. Anyone can prove anything with research if they start with a bias and control the things they look at in their research. The gun banners want you and me to pay folks like Arthur Kellerman to research with the goal of banning guns.

In 1986 Kellerman published a “study” showing you are 43 times more likely to die from your own gun than you are to use it to protect yourself. To show how stupid such studies can be, you can look at protecting yourself only if you kill your attacker. Never mind that most times a bad guy just seeing a gun will run. Kellerman thinks that is not protecting yourself. And he includes suicides on the opposite side.

Kellerman’s numbers have been shown to be ridiculously inaccurate time and time again but the gun haters still parrot them almost daily. Don’t bother them with facts.