NRA Files Lawsuit Opposing Biden Administration’s Shooting Ban on Sonoran Desert National Monument

Continuing its attacks on law-abiding gun owners’ Second Amendment freedoms, the Biden administration kept sportsmen-backed groups busy during its final days in office. On Jan. 17, the NRA joined with the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and Safari Club International to file a lawsuit against the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over its near prohibition of recreational target shooting on Arizona’s Sonoran Desert National Monument (SDNM) that aims to close off nearly a half-million acres of public land currently open to shooting enthusiasts.

As reported by this NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum website (NRAHLF.org), nearly 90 percent of the SDNM was open to recreational shooting until 2024 when the BLM issued a Recreational Target Shooting Resource Management Plan Amendment prohibiting shooting on 99 percent of the SDNM. The move came despite that recreational shooting had never been cited as a threat to wildlife or to other interests on those public lands.

According to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), the lawsuit—titled U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation v. Bureau of Land Management and filed in the District Court for the District of Columbia—argues that the BLM amendment’s recreational shooting prohibition is unwarranted for the vast majority of acreage involved and that the BLM did not provide sufficient notice of it to permit members of the public to comment. Just as important, NRA-ILA explains that the amendment violates multiple federal environmental and administrative statutes. The lawsuit aims to have the amendment set aside and declared unlawful so it can be remanded back to the BLM for reconsideration.
Please continue to check with this NRA website and with NRAILA.org for updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing work to protect and defend our Second Amendment rights.