Hunting has long been an American tradition. Before that it was a European tradition, and long before that it was a means of subsistence for humans living isolated lives where grit and ingenuity were required to put food on the table.
Today, hunting is under attack by activists who want to treat squirrels as equal to humans. At least one of the prominent leaders of the anti-hunting movement teaches humans and animals are so similar that it ought to be acceptable for humans to have sexual relations with animals. (That last line is not a typo.)
In response to the increasingly hostile anti-hunting movement, the National Rifle Association has launched “NRA Hunting,” a new program designed to fight for the very future of the sport. is focused on the values of hunting, the conservation that is an outgrowth of hunting, and the tactics the left is currently employing to try to end hunting once and for all.
“Hunting teaches you a number of things, whether it’s self-reliance, whether it’s conservation, whether it’s being able to take care of yourself in the absence of a supermarket …” said Josh Powell, national spokesperson for the campaign. “There is a massive misconception out there within this anti-hunting community in terms of exactly what they are doing and achieving, because they’re not saving animals, they’re not saving the environment.In response to the increasingly hostile anti-hunting movement, the National Rifle Association has launched “NRA Hunting,” a new program designed to fight for the very future of the sport.
“I think if many people really understood what the PETAs of the world, what HSUS stood for—Wayne Pacelle, Peter Singer, that whole crowd—I think they’d be pretty shocked. And I think they’d find that at the core of their mission … it’s about having a lot less of you and I, and animals end up with the same rights as human beings ….”
In truth, hunting is natural. That is why so many wilderness documentaries frame wildlife in terms of predators and prey, showing the crouching lion wait patiently until the gazelle or other prey unknowingly ventures too close. It is also why internet and television programming alike are replete with videos of wildebeests and zebras being bitten and violently pulled under water by crocodiles while trying to cross rivers in Africa.
In the same way, man hunted to acquire food prior to the invention of trusted methods of food storage, of mass production of foods and of restaurant chains where $6 can buy a burger that past generations could only get from a butcher or their own farm. But humans also hunt because it is fulfilling; because it puts men and women in nature—literally—where they can take in beauty while pitting their wits against the instincts of animals of various species. Moreover, while enjoying beauty and testing their wits, hunters conserve nature by keeping game populations at levels that various ecosystems and environments can support.
A great example of this was seen after an anti-hunting campaign and propagandists pushed to stop, or at least greatly reduce, lion hunting following the death of Cecil the Lion in July 2015. Less than a year after the protests, Breitbart News reported that the Zimbabwe government was preparing to shoot 200 lions due to the population growth because of the lull in big-game hunting. The lack of hunting had allowed the pride to reach a size that the environment could not sustain, and had depleted conservation funds that are derived from hunting licenses and fees.
Perhaps the fact that lion hunting is part of lion conservation is lost on so many Americans who cannot afford to fly to Africa to take part in such an adventure. But the same lesson can be learned here in the United States. For example, fish and wildlife agencies are constantly working to adjust the limit on a specific game—be it deer, elk, duck, pheasant, etc.—to be sure enough animals are taken to prevent the habitat from becoming over populated while simultaneously leaving enough animals so that each species can continue to grow and expand into the future.
It sounds cheesy, but hunting is part of the circle of life.
Enter the anti-hunting forces led by people like Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation. The book was published in 1975 and has since fueled an animal rights movement that now includes a strong anti-hunting component.
Singer equivocates in the book not by bringing animals up to the level of humans, but by bringing humans down to the level of animals. He writes that “the life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee.” And it is Singer who defends sexual relations with animals, writing, “Our physical similarities with other animals are so strong that the taboo on bestiality stems not from physical differences, but from our desire to differentiate ourselves from animals.” He contends that sexual relations ought to be allowed if said relations are “mutually satisfying.”
Militant anti-hunters are both birthed and nurtured by such rhetoric.It sounds cheesy, but hunting is part of the circle of life.
Enter NRA Hunting, an effort launched to save hunting from extremists who describe animals with human pronouns and believe humans have no right to hunt for the food they eat, the clothes they wear or the trophies they mount.
NRA Hunting is here to remind a new generation that hunting is an American tradition. And even more than that, it is a human tradition.
Beyond tradition, hunting is a means of conservation. As explained in the preceding paragraphs, hunting keeps game animals at a population that the environment can sustain. And the money paid by hunters for licenses and tags is used by state wildlife agencies to fund the conservation projects that benefit both game animals and nongame species.
Hunting is a way of life, and NRA Hunting exists to be sure it remains part of American life.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected].
