GOP Gun Bill Loses Support Amid Outrage From Hunting, Conservation Groups

Five House Republicans have withdrawn as co-sponsors of a bill that aims to repeal an excise tax on firearms and ammunition which for decades has served as a financial pillar of the American model of wildlife conservation.

“Sometimes you look at a bill and, you know, it’s explained to be a positive and you look at it a little bit further and you change your mind,” Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) told HuffPost about his decision to un-sponsor the legislation.

The legislation, dubbed the RETURN Act (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) was introduced last month by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) and dozens of other House Republicans. It takes aim at a tax that gun and ammunition manufacturers and importers have paid for more than a century. Since the passage of the bipartisan Pittman-Robertson Act in 1937, money collected through the tax — 11% on long guns, ammunition and archery equipment; 10% on handguns — has been distributed to states to pay for wildlife management and research, habitat conservation, land acquisition and hunter education.

Despite that long history and the popularity of the Pittman-Robertson Act among hunters, anglers, conservationists and the firearm industry, Clyde and other sponsors have painted the tax as an assault on the Second Amendment.