Wolf Banes letter to Colorado Senator King

Bad Hand · March 17, 2013

From: Michael Bane
Date: Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 4:09 PM
Subject: OUTDOOR CHANNEL Pulls Productions from Colorado
To: Steve King

Dear Senator King;

I met you yesterday after the so-called "public hearings" on the antigun bills; as I mentioned, I am an Executive Producer for OUTDOOR CHANNEL. I currently have four series in production, included GUN STORIES, the top show on OC, with several additional series in development. My series focus on guns, hunting, shooting and the outdoors.

This morning I met with my three Producers, and we made the decision that if these antigun bills become law, we will be moving all of our production OUT of Colorado. We have already cancelled a scheduled filming session for late this month. Obviously, part of this is due to our own commitment to the right to keep and bear arms, but it also reflects 3 lawyers' opinions that these laws are so poorly drafted and so designed to trap otherwise legal citizens into a crime (one of our attorneys referred to them as "flypaper laws") that it is simply too dangerous for us to film here.

I can give you chapter and verse on the legal implications if you need, but suffice to say that the first legal opinion was so scary we went out and got two others. Al three attorneys agreed.

We are relatively small potatoes in television, but our relocation of production will cost Colorado a little less than a million dollars in 2013.

Secondly, we have proudly promoted Colorado in our productions (and have been moving more and more production into the state); now we will do exactly the opposite. What does this mean for Colorado? The community of television producers is a small one. Last week I had lunch with a major network producer who was looking to locate his new reality series in Colorado. That producer is also a shooter, and the new reality series will now be based out of Phoenix. That lunch cost Colorado over a million in economic impact.

Thirdly, according to numbers I received from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (for whom I used to work) yesterday, hunting had an almost $800,000,000 impact on Colorado in 2012, driving as many as 8330 jobs. Next month I will be in Texas meeting with most of the top outdoor/hunting producers, and the Number One agenda item will be Colorado. Already, hunting organizations and statewide hunting clubs around the country are pulling out of Colorado, and we expect this trend to accelerate rapidly.

The message we will take to our viewers and listeners is that these proposed laws are so dangerous to hunters and any other person, be she a fisherman or a skier who brings a handgun into the state for self-defense, that we cannot recommend hunting, fishing or visiting Colorado. We reach millions of people, and, quite frankly, we have a credibility that Colorado government officials can no longer match. Colorado Division of Wildlife is already running ads trying to bring more out-of-state hunters to Colorado...in light of the flood of negative publicity about these proposed laws, I can assure you those ads will fail.

We estimate that as many as one-quarter to one-third of out-of-state hunters will desert Colorado in the next 18-24 months, which will quite frankly be a disaster for the hunting industry in Colorado and have a devastating effect on our western and northern communities (certainly like Grand Junction).

This is not a "boycott" in the traditional sense of a centralized, organized operation; rather, it is more of a grassroots decision on where shooters, hunters and other sportsmen are willing to spend their money. Look at the collapse of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in February. That venerable multimillion dollar trade show chose to ban modern sporting rifles and standard capacity magazines, and with three weeks it collapsed as all vendors and sponsors pulled out.

Colorado is going to pay a huge price for laws that will do nothing. Thank you, sir, for your support.

Best.

Michael Bane
OUTDOOR CHANNEL

Utah Bob #35998 · March 17, 2013

I hope a copy went to the Governor's office.

And the media.

Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L · March 17, 2013

Good letter - just too bad that the new anti-gun laws are knee jerk reaction laws without any logic or even common sense that truly attack law-abiding firearm owners. Good job to Mr. Bane.

GG ~ :FlagAm:

Calico Mary · March 17, 2013

After yesterday's match, Buick and I hung out for another half hour or so, just for the chance to talk to Wolf Bane and his lovely lady Indiana Jackson. I couldn't leave without thanking them for all their hard work on behalf of the gun owners of our state. It's unfortunate that our legislature chose not to listen to reason, but we do appreciate that Wolf Bane, Indiana Jackson, and many more tried so hard!

Doc Holliday GJ · March 18, 2013

I hope that letter went to other politicians since Senator King is pro-gun.

J-BAR #18287 · March 18, 2013

Thank you Mr. Bane, most sincerely.

I was born and raised in Colorado, still have family there. Won't be visiting much, I'm afraid.

Rye Miles #13621 · March 18, 2013

I'm interested in his response. Good work Wolf Bane!!

Rye

Chief Rick · March 18, 2013

I hope that letter went to other politicians since Senator King is pro-gun.

Probably best to send it to all, but at least sending it to a pro-gun Senator ensures a better chance of it reaching others in the Senate, as it shouldn't be deleted for general purpose...

Cat Brules · March 18, 2013

These people (Colorado State government) couldn't care less. Instead, they are overjoyed. This letter has the affect of documenting the success, and spelling out the goal, of their efforts. The people who keep them in office aren't interested in this stuff in the least and would call the exodus of "gun sports" money a big win. Hard to believe Colorado would come to this.

The ultimate agenda of the anti gun bunch is to impoverish the majority of Americans, so that they must rely on the "State" for their livlihood. Taking guns off the table only makes their stranglehold stronger. No more jobs for game wardens and other so-called "sports-related" enforcement employees? That's okay, too. They will simply be segued into some stormtrooper role in the cities to control an ever-increasing disgruntled population who would rather feed on rats than take back their rights.

No hunters or sportsmen? Well, that's the idea ... to keep people out of the back coutry, out of rural areas and warehoused in cities, where they can be controlled. Fill the back country up with an overpopulation of wolves and grizzley bears and that will keep most of the adventurous types out.

Rolan Kraps, SASS # 24084 Life · March 18, 2013

I was thinking about relocating to Colorado. Not any longer.

Calico Mary · March 18, 2013

I certainly understand your point of view, Rolan, may I say it's definitely Colorado's loss.... Unfortunately, I have a feeling that a lot of people that may have been a good addition to our state won't want to come here anymore, and we'll probably lose a lot of the good ones that are already here. I'm afraid it will get much worse before it gets better!

Charles B. Gatewood SASS #48517 · March 18, 2013

To date our legislative body has passed recreational marijuana use ( darn we forgot to put a sales tax on that one), passed gun laws we don't need, civil unions, and now are hard at work on a law that limits the amount of time a teenager can stay in a tanning booth. Wow! these will really help to reduce that pesky 10.9% unemployment.

Thank you Wolf Bane for taking a stand!

Regards,

CBG

Doc Holliday GJ · March 18, 2013

A Denver Post Poll seems to show that the action of the politicians does not seem to reflect the will of the constituency,

You can still Vote by the way http://www.denverpost.com/opinionpolls?_requestid=1867810&_requestid=1867979&_requestid=1868383&_requestid=1868713&_requestid=1868974

Utah Bob #35998 · March 18, 2013

I was thinking about relocating to Colorado. Not any longer.

I did. And here I'll stay.

And fight.

March 18, 2013

And, indeed, the fight goes on. I think the Dems have overreached in Colorado and will be vulnerable in 2014, and like Brother Utah Bob I am committed to staying here at least until them to carry the fight to the enemy. I am looking forward to visiting the individual distracts in play and funning free classes for shooters, doing appearances at gun shops and gun shows and TELLING THE PEOPLE WHO THE QUISLINGS ARE! I am not running for office...I do not have to be "professional," "respectful" or, hey, even "nice." I will tell it like it is.

We cancelled the RAPID FIRE filmings, all scheduled for Colorado, and moved them to GUNSITE; THE BEST DEFENSE Colorado filmings are cancelled and will film entirely in Tulsa; GUN STORIES specialty videography has been relocated out of Colorado to GUNSITE; SHOOTING GALLERY studio sessions for 2014 will be in Phoenix instead of Denver, and specialty videography will be at the Whittington Center in New Mexico. And, yes, this is darned expensive!

I have a commitment to film the Ruger Rimfire Worlds in Colorado in July for SG. This is a match I helped bring to Colorado. Because of contractual issues, the venue can't be changed at this late date, and a lot of sponsors and shooters are coming because we made a big push last quarter of 2012 to get them here. If I do decide to honor that commitment, which is likely, I will use the show as a platform to urge people NOT to come to Colorado any more. I suspect this will be the last major match in Colorado for anything other than cowboy, because it will simply be too dangerous for shooters.

The new laws provide that standard capacity magazines (in fact, ALL magazines with replaceable base pads, which is the vast majority of modern magazines) cannot be transferred AT ALL, meaning that should you drop a Glock 19 magazine on the ground and your son or daughter picks it up to hand to you, you are BOTH criminals. The new laws also redefine what we think of as a "sale," which BATFE defines as "transfer of ownership for a consideration." In Colorado, the new definition is "transfer of physical possession," as in I hand you my new cowboy pistol while sitting on the porch of the Secret Hidden Bunker so you can check out the trigger pull. If I don't first do a background check on you, that may be illegal. I say "may" because there are numerous "exceptions" in the background check law, but according to our attorneys those exceptions take effect AFTER you've been arrested and run through the system, what is called an "affirmative defense." Same with the magazine law...all standard capacity magazines are grandfathered in and you only have to "assert" that you owned those magazines prior to 1 July 2013, but that assertion is specifically an affirmative defense...you get arrested, your guns get seized, you go to jail, you pay $10K to a criminal defense attorney and get yourself bonded out, you finally go before a judge and your attorney says the magazines were owned prior to the date of the laws, and hey, you get to go home with only $10K out of pocket! BTW, if you're in Denver or any of the surrounding communities, policy is that NO guns "seized for cause" will be returned. "For cause" means that the guns were seized because you broke a gun law, which in this case you did. The affirmative defense was AFTER the "legitimate" arrest.

Assuming the Governor signs these bills this week, I strongly suggest:

1) You consider a Gun Trust with your family members as Trustees. This clarifies the ownership of guns and accessories such as standard capacity magazines and allows any member of the Trust to possess same. That is what Indiana Jackson and I have done on advice of counsel. The Colorado attorney I used was Douglas Turner, who is a member of the national Gun Trust attorneys. If you and your kids are Trustees in the Gun Trust, in the example above, any Trustee can possess the items in question.

2) After the laws go into effect on 1 July 2013, I strongly suggest that you transport your guns and accessories to and from the range in LOCKED cases or containers, with your carry gun CONCEALED on your person. This is to protect you in case of an automobile accident that might allow law enforcement to see "illegal items in plain sight." A locked case will require a warrant to open, and a warrant will (hopefully) require probable cause. DO NOT under any condition allow law enforcement to search your person or your car without a warrant, and only answer the questions you're asked. The most recent high-visibility arrests for "illegal magazines" in D.C. and New York state both happened because the persons involved casually and innocently told law enforcement about the proscribed items and allowed them to search their cars. Don't do it.

3) After the laws take effect, AVOID DENVER AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BOULDER LIKE THE PLAGUE! The overwhelming majority of Colorado Sheriffs have already gone on record as NOT willing to enforce these ridiculous laws; in fact, the Colorado Sheriffs' Association is considering suing the state of Colorado if these laws go into effect. However, the cites of Denver and surrounding communities and Boulder WILL enforce these laws to the letter! In fact, I fully expect to see "sting" operations like those launched by New York State Police 48 hours after that state's draconian gun laws took effect. If you must travel through those areas — and hey, for at least the next few months I still live in Boulder County! — remember that you are in "Indian Country" and act appropriately!

Sorry to be so darn cheery...but we have to protect ourselves from this huge overreach of state powers! Yes, there will be lawsuits, but they will take quite literally years. We must take our state back in 2014!

Wolf Bane

SASS13557

March 18, 2013