WHICH ONE IS THE BAD GUY, BOW OR THE DEC?

by Anne Muller, Pres. Wildlife Watch

QUESTION 1: SO, WHO’S THE BAD GUY? 

A) The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)

B) The Bureau of Wildlife (BOW)

C) Both

QUESTION 2: IF YOU CHOSE C, WHICH IS WORSE?

A) BOW

B) DEC

Read below before answering the questions:

If we simply Google the NYS DEC, we will see that it contains numerous divisions. Just take a look at the DEC’s Organization Chart.

If we want to stop hunting, we need to clarify, both for ourselves and others, the entity that is connected to the excise tax on firearms, ammunition, bows and arrows, and crossbows and bolts.

That entity is not the DEC (the entire agency), it’s BOW and BOW’s divisions: the “Large Game Management Unit,” and the “Small Game Management Unit.”

I propose that, both in our speaking and writing, BOW be isolated from the DEC for clarity and to pick up support from the public, politicians, and possibly, at some point in time, from the DEC itself.

BOW is truly a rogue division of government that works hand in glove with the weapons industries. Those weapons are firearms, ammo, bows, arrows, and crossbows and bolts. Their role is to overpopulate certain species for hunting, blame the overpopulation on the animals, and motivate the purchase of weapons to be used on animals as the only solution to keep populations down.

Yes, they are given cover, protection, and gloss by being referred to as “the DEC,” which is a sprawling government agency whose purpose is to protect the environment.

As you can see in the organization chart, the DEC has many divisions, most of them are helpful to the general public, and the DEC has huge public support. To attack the DEC, of which the Wildlife Bureau is only a small, self-serving part, is going to bring more opposition to our position. What is our position? Hunting and the management of wildlife for hunting has got to stop.

Why? It’s barbaric, proliferates firearms and other weapons, and causes harm to the public.

It’s true that the DEC is the protector and cover for this rogue division, and usually its mouthpiece. It’s true that the DEC Commissioner’s photo, along with an introductory statement of blessing appears in every issue of the blood curdling NYS Hunting and Trapping Guide. And it’s true there’s much that still needs to be uncovered and understood in the connection between the larger agency and BOW. But, what we do know now about BOW should be enough to call for booting this private malevolent enterprise out of government.

First, while New Yorkers are lobbying non-stop against gun violence and lax gun laws, BOW IS THE ONLY ENTITY THAT BENEFITS FROM GUN VIOLENCE AND THE PROLIFERATION OF FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION. BOW functions to both help and be helped by the weapons industries. Is any other government entity in partnership with a private industry that benefits only the industry and that government entity?

How does BOW financially connect with the firearms and archery industries?

There is an excise tax (called the Pittman-Robertson tax) on all firearms and ammo, crossbows and bolts, and bows and arrows. (Military and police firearms do not incur the tax.)
The excise tax is collected at the point of manufacture or import and goes to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to apportion the excise tax to the states (and territories) based on the number of hunting licenses they sell and the area of the state.

The state may only use its apportionment to create “hunting opportunity,” which leads to more purchases of firearms, ammo, bows, arrows, and bolts. [As an aside, this leads to more investigation about whether P-R funds can be used by other divisions of the DEC (forestry for example), to manipulate habitat for increasing populations of deer or other huntable wildlife.]

What the public should understand is that every shooting in NYC is committed with a firearm and ammunition that carried the excise tax, and that excise tax is apportionment must be turned over to wildlife managers to create more hunting or more use of the weapons. Not a penny can be used for hospital care or burials of victims.

For every bullet that killed or injured a person in New York City, game managers financially benefit! Their job is to continue to serve the weapons industry by turning our wildlife into targets.

Let’s look at how the firearms excise tax differs from the other well-known excise taxes on Alcohol and tobacco:

The excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco go to the General Fund of the state or to a special fund that can be used for education or health needs, or for help to GIVE UP smoking or drinking! Uniquely, the weapons excise tax MUST BE USED TO CREATE MORE USE OF THE PRODUCT!!

Imagine if the excise tax on alcohol or tobacco were used by a dedicated government bureau – the “Bureau of Alcohol,” or the “Bureau of Tobacco,” – whose purpose is to increase drinking and smoking for the sake of those industries. It’s laughable!

Now, please take the quiz above!