Bill to Create, Expand Public Shooting Ranges Passes Senate

By Chris Eger

The bill, now headed to the U.S. House, would make it easier for states to use federal funds to create public gun ranges (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
A bipartisan measure designed to boost the number of shooting ranges available on public land passed the U.S. Senate last week.
The proposal, S.94, was introduced in January by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-WV and Michael Bennet, D-Colo. The bill, which was reported favorably from the Committee on Environment and Public Works in February, passed the chamber as a whole in a voice vote on April 10 and now goes to the House for consideration.
Under the current guidelines, states must match federal government funding 25 cents on the dollar to begin working on public shooting ranges administered through local conservation agencies. To make that bar more obtainable, the bill drops the matching formula to 90/10 while also allowing funds to accrue for up to five years– up from two.
As such, S.94 would modify the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act. This 80-year-old law uses an excise tax levied on all firearms and ammunition sold or imported into the country to perform conservation-related tasks as varied as restoring elk habitat to funding safety programs and establishing public shooting

Source: Guns.com