Confirmed: The “Hunter Boycott” That Never Happened

As it turns out…

Scott Willoughby writes for the Denver Post this past weekend:

Colorado attracted national attention and threats of a hunting boycott last spring after Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a trio of gun laws restricting magazine capacity to 15 rounds and mandating background checks, paid by the purchaser, on most gun sales. The controversial bills were approved by the state legislature shortly before the big game application deadline, generating concerns over a potential decrease in demand for limited licenses in the state's premier hunting units.

Instead, the state's big game limited license applications increased by 17,000, or 4 percent, over the 2012 figures, totaling nearly 469,000. The increase in demand apparently was reflected in unlimited over-the-counter sales during the second and third rifle seasons this fall. With the largest elk herd in the nation, Colorado is the only state that offers an unlimited number of over-the-counter bull elk licenses to out-of-state hunters.

"If you want to go elk hunting, you are going to come here," said Eric Whirley, owner of Action Taxidermy in Gypsum, adding that his business was the best it has been since opening nine years ago. "We get a lot of out-of-state repeat business, a lot of the same groups of guys come back every year. We saw the same faces this year. You aren't going to Michigan to go elk hunting because Colorado changed a law."

Back in April, we took note of a revealing budget appropriation proposed during debate over this year's "Long Bill" by GOP Rep. Bob Rankin. Rankin unsuccessfully sought $1 million to fund a PR campaign by the Colorado Tourism Office, to dispel "myths" about Colorado's new gun laws Rankin believed threatened to harm tourism in the state over the summer and upcoming hunting season. As we noted at the time, many of the "myths" Rankin was concerned about originated with his fellow Republican legislators during the debate over the bills. Sen. Kevin Lundberg claimed that the bill limit magazine capacity to 15 rounds would "ban all magazines." Sen. Kent Lambert flat-out claimed the bills had "banned gun ownership," and predicted they would lead to guns being "confiscated or taken away here over the next couple of years."

Before you laugh dismissively, consider the fact that these absurd allegations had, and continue to have, a real impact on a large segment of voters. Evidence for this is everywhere, not least in polling showing that Coloradans hate "gun control," but support the gun control legislation that was actually passed by the Democratic-controlled Colorado General Assembly this year. The gap between fiction and reality is as wide in the Colorado gun debate as any issue we have ever seen in modern politics, and when you consider the prevalent misinformation on issues like Obamacare, that's saying a lot. So far, no preponderance of facts has been able to slow the momentum of the gun lobby, which is now focused on recalling a third Democratic Senator over legislation that actually enjoys broad support. If nothing else, this is another demonstration of the "reality gap" we're talking about.

But as we now know, the campaign of misinformation did not deter hunters from traveling to Colorado. We're not surprised. For one thing, it was reported back in June that hunting license applications had surged instead of declining. Some of our readers suggested that "reverse psychology" may have been at work, with hunters anticipating a boycott by others sought easy pickings that never materialized. Regardless, the bottom line is that a sane examination of the new laws makes it clear they don't impede hunting in Colorado one bit. And hunters who don't fall in the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners angry activist demographic were able to figure this out despite the ludicrous warnings spewing from the mouths of Republican lawmakers.

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