Washington, D.C. – Safari Club International’s (SCI) President Dr. Larry Rudolph will address the Fourth Biennial Meeting of States (BMS4) at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York today. His speech will focus on the vast economic benefits of hunting in developing nations, and will emphasize that an international regulatory climate that allows the continued private transportation of firearms is vital to those benefits.
This meeting is part of the follow-up process to the UN 2001 Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, during which Member States adopted the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA).
Anti-gun and anti-hunting groups saw the original PoA as a vehicle for gun bans, registration schemes and other sweeping proposals that would hinder the sport of hunting and our outdoor heritage. The United States, through the efforts of Ambassador John Bolton, forced the removal of provisions targeting privately-owned firearms from the PoA, and made it clear that the United States would not join consensus on any document that abridged its citizens’ Second Amendment rights. The UN now holds “Biennial” meetings every two years to review the provisions of the PoA.
“Regulated, well-managed hunting is vital to developing nations because it brings revenue to local economies,” said SCI President Larry Rudolph. “The United Nations itself has stated that economic stability is vital to reductions in violence in developing countries. Hunting helps build that economic stability and economic value.”
SCI recognizes that any attempt by the UN to implement onerous firearms regulations or unnecessarily complex permitting processes could cripple the international hunting market and destroy this industry in the developing world. “The consequences of this overbroad application of firearms restrictions will further cripple developing nations that rely on hunting for their economies,” concluded Rudolph.
SCI-First For Hunters is the leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and in promoting wildlife conservation worldwide. SCI’s approximately 190 Chapters represent all 50 of the United States as well as 106 other countries. SCI’s proactive leadership in a host of cooperative wildlife conservation, outdoor education and humanitarian programs, with the SCI Foundation and other conservation groups, research institutions and government agencies, empowers sportsmen to be contributing community members and participants in sound wildlife management and conservation. Visit the home page www.safariclub.org or call (520) 620-1220 for more information.
Contact: Nelson Freeman, Media@safariclub.org
