Press Releases

The House of Representatives today rejected Rep. Beyer’s gun safety amendment to the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2015 (SHARE Act).   On a mostly party-line vote,  the House declined to restrict dangerous individuals from using target ranges on public land.

“The House made a dangerous decision today to allow convicted felons unfettered access to public target ranges, without any safety protections,” said Rep. Beyer. “My amendment would simply have prohibited people already barred from owning guns from renting or borrowing them to improve their shooting abilities on public lands.”

The Beyer Amendment would have required shooting facilities that receive federal assistance to have a policy or notice in place stating that no person who is prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm is allowed to use the shooting range. Rep. Beyer strongly supports expanding background checks; however, his amendment today would not have required shooting ranges to conduct background checks.

Two other amendments Rep. Beyer offered to prohibit the use of fully automatic weapons, flame throwers, explosives, and incendiary or armor piercing bullets at these ranges, and restrict access to individuals on the ‘no-fly list’ were rejected on a party line vote in the House Rules Committee this week.

“Flame throwers, grenades, and armor-piercing bullets have no place on public land,” Beyer said. “Nor should we allow anyone on the no-fly list to shoot on public land. That these questions even require debate is a sad indictment of our out-of-control gun culture.”