Editorial: Forest officials cause gun chaos

The number of guns in the United States roughly equals the population. Gun owners have raised billions for wildlife conservation and public lands by paying a 10 percent tax on all gun and ammunition purchases. People who own guns reasonably desire to use them. The right to own and use guns has no less protection than the right to speak. Civil war could not disarm this country. Yet, for some reason the United States Forest Service has little time for recreational shooters. The agency takes extraordinary measures to facilitate hikers, campers and mountain bikers. It maintains facilities for them and cleans up their trash. The agency has allowed clear-cutting in order to facilitate skiers, even though skiers kill and maim themselves and others when things go wrong. We applaud the Forest Service for facilitating a variety of dangerous and otherwise burdensome activities. The forests belong to the people who pay for them — especially gun owners, who pay more than their share for conservation. What we do not applaud is the agency’s efforts to shut out gun owners. The service has shut down the only two public ranges in El Paso County, the state’s most populous county and the county with the second-highest per capita gun ownership in Colorado...more