title:  The NRA Is Busy Pursuing Their ‘More Guns’ Agenda In Florida By Completely Denying Science
text: It doesn t seem to matter what it is, if the NRA is involved, you can bet it s because they want to see more guns. Such is the case in Florida, where the NRA is pushing that agenda on the environment by calling for a black bear hunt, because bears are nuisance animals and hunters with guns are a higher priority than figuring out a more proactive way of handling nuisance animals.Marion Hammer, a lobbyist on the side of the NRA, and one of the people pushing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to approve the hunt, says: Bears continue to terrorize homeowners and prevent families from allowing children to play outside in some areas, and while FWC is working to educate people about securing trash and is trying to move dangerous bears out of residential areas, those programs are helpful but cannot succeed without hunts to reduce the population. Hunts don t necessarily do that, either, despite a large number of bears being killed last year. In last year s hunt, 304 bears were killed over the course of two days. The FWC was forced to end the season at that point, even though it was supposed to last a week. The NRA wants an even longer hunt this year, but the logic of pushing for a longer one is non-existent if there are fewer bears around due to last year s hunt.They re totally ignoring some key facts on the issue, too. These bears were on Florida s Endangered and Threatened Species list as recently as 2012. The FWC is supposed to have new population numbers sometime this year; however, without knowing how much the black bear populations have increased, these hunts are completely irresponsible. That is, sadly, typical of the NRA these days; virtually every part of their agenda is totally irresponsible.Why should the NRA care about any kind of responsibility, though? In 2006, the number of people in the U.S. who hunted was at its lowest point in recent history. Public support for hunting began to grow again in 2007, and now we have more hunters, which means we have more guns out there. Nothing makes the NRA happier than more guns, and more excuses for putting more guns out there.The FWC hasn t approved a hunt yet, and here s hoping they don t cave to the NRA this year. They re expected to receive a staff recommendation on the issue before their June 22 meeting.Featured image by John Gress/Getty Images