KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO TO LEGALLY PROTECT YOUR FAMILY AND ANIMALS
The foothills and mountains of Northern California are
experiencing a significant increase in mountain lion encounters - including one which took the life of a 21-year-old man. It has been fifty years since lions have been legally hunted in California - usually via pursuing them with dogs. As a result, lions have lost their fear of humans and the dogs which use to hunt them. With the threat to human safety and the loss of livestock and pets skyrocketing, The Outdoor View believes it is important for those who live in California to know the laws which direct what you can legally do to protect your family and your animals from mountain lions.
Below is a link to the Chapter in the California Fish & Game Code that deals with mountain lions. You may want to pay particular attention to Section 4807.
To view The Outdoor View's interviews with El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Leikauf and Malcolm Brooks (the uncle of the two young men who were attacked) about what you need to know about mountain lions and how to protect yourself, your family, pets, and livestock, scroll down.
The Outdoor View is committed to seeking some common-sense changes to predator management policy in California. We believe it is critical that we strengthen our legal ability to protect our families, as well as our pets and livestock. As we move forward with these efforts, we will keep you informed, and we will need your support.
Join Bill Gaines and El Dorado County Agricultural Commissioner LeeAnne Mila for an update on the status of efforts to seek common-sense changes to mountain lion management policy in El Dorado County.
Malcolm Brooks - Taylen and Wyatt Brooks Uncle - and Bill Gaines share information about mountain lions that we all need to know. Listen in as Bill and Malcolm discuss the Mountain Lion Foundation coming to Placerville for a "Town Hall" presentation on Saturday, June 15, 2024, to discuss "Living with Mountain Lions".
Listen in as Sheriff Jeff Leikauf and Bill Gaines, an expert in wildlife conservation, discuss the escalating concerns with mountain lion encounters in El Dorado County. Learn what you need to know to protect yourself, your family, pets, and livestock from mountain lions.
The Outdoor View (TOV) would like to provide you with an update on the proposal by the Catalina Island Conservancy (CIC) to eradicate all the deer on Catalina Island. With CIC’s efforts to secure the approval of the Avalon City Council to net and kill deer inside the city limits rejected last November, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) approval of the general permit now apparently stalled, CIC attempted to cut a deal with the city. In early April, CIC approached the Avalon City Council with a “compromise” proposal in which CIC offered to:
To formally consider the “compromise” proposal, the Avalon City Council scheduled a special meeting for the evening of April 9th. However, the CIC offer was not a “compromise” at all – rather CIC simply trying to take some advantage of the delay in CDFW approval pushing their eradication timeline back to 2025 at best. Knowing that City Council agreement to the CIC "compromise" would remove a major roadblock to CDFW approval, all our partners in opposition went to work contacting City Council representatives and urging them to firmly oppose the CIC offer. The evening of April 9th, after being contacted by opposition numerous times prior to the meeting and following over two hours of public testimony during the meeting, the City Council soundly rejected the CIC proposal.
Two weeks later, CIC lost another hard-fought round when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to send a letter to CDFW Director Chuck Bonham in strong opposition to the aerial gunning of the deer on the island.
TOV will continue to work with our state and national conservation partners and the local coalition to fight CIC’s baseless proposal and ensure CDFW’s ultimate decision is based on hard science.
HEAR WHAT EXPERTS AND LOCALS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE LACK OF SCIENCE BEHIND THE CONSERVANCY'S PUSH TO SLAUGHTER ALL THE DEER
TO SIGN THE "COALITION AGAINST THE SLAUGHTER OF CATALINA DEER" PETITION, CLICK BELOW!
AB 28 (GABRIEL) - FIREARMS & AMMUNITION EXCISE TAX
Signed into law on September 26th, AB 28 by Assembly Member Jesse Gabriel (D/46-Woodland Hills) which - as of July 1, 2024 - imposes an 11% excise tax on the retail sale of all firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition.
Coined the “Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Act”, AB 28 requires that the revenues collected be deposited in the “Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Fund” and used to fund various gun violence prevention, education, research, response, and investigation programs.
AB 28 doubles the excise tax that already is assessed on the sales of firearms and ammunition. Law-abiding hunters and shooters already pay an 11% excise tax on long guns, ammunition, archery, and other hunting equipment and a 10% excise tax on handguns pursuant to federal Pittman-Robertson Act. But those dollars are appropriately allocated back to the states to fund positive programs – including wildlife habitat projects, hunter safety classes and shooting/target ranges. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife currently receives roughly $40 million annually in federal Pittman-Robertson Act funding for these purposes.
Because AB 28 significantly increases the cost of firearms and ammunition, it also decreases their sales and, as a result, the federal funding allocated to California each year for wildlife habitat programs and projects and other important uses.
CRPA FILES LEGAL CHALLENGE TO 11% EXCISE TAX IMPOSED BY AB 28
(JULY 2, 2024 UPDATE)
With the 11% excise tax on the retail sale of all firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition sold in California in effect as of July 1, 2024, the California Rifle & Pistol Association (CRPA) has filed a legal challenge arguing that the new law is unconstitutional. Working in close collaboration with the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, and the National Rifle Association, the complaint argues that:
1) While this excise tax is technically levied on the sellers of these goods, in practice, it will be passed through to individuals that purchase these items;
2) The excise tax is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), because it implicates conduct protected by the 2nd Amendment and is not part of this Nation’s history of gun regulation; and
3) The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that constitutional rights cannot be singled out for special taxation. This excise tax directly targets our 2nd Amendment rights.
To view CRPA’s legal challenge in its entirety click below
Unable to beat the 2nd Amendment, California liberal lawmakers are simply trying to do all possible to price the law-abiding public out of purchasing and possessing firearms.
But the gun control laws they are passing don’t only impact those who choose to purchase firearms and ammunition. "California's wrong-headed war on gun culture continues to cost taxpayers millions, as stubborn lawmakers keep passing laws they know will never withstand scrutiny under Bruen," exhorted CRPA President Chuck Michel. "A government cannot simply tax rights out of existence."
To listen to an interview with CRPA President Chuck Michel explaining the legal challenge click below
California AB 804 - legislation signed into law in 2021 - required Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to designate two days each year as “free hunting days”, beginning with the 2023/2024 hunting license year. To take part in a free hunting day, an unlicensed hunter who has completed the Hunter Safety Course, but not purchased their hunting license, may hunt if mentored by a licensed hunter, 21 years or older, who has held a valid hunting license for at least the last three consecutive years. To ensure safety in the field, mentors are restricted to only accompanying one unlicensed hunter at a time and must keep the unlicensed hunter within close visual and verbal contact. Those participating in the free hunting day are prohibited from taking any game species that would require a draw or a lottery to obtain a tag. Those participating in the free hunting day to taking only resident and migratory game birds, resident small game mammals, fur bearing mammals, nongame mammals, and - if 12 years or older - wild pigs with a wild pig validation.
"Free Hunting Days" now in effect in California with
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