Safari Club International’s annual convention not only draws hunters, but elected lawmakers and political appointees who support this way of life.
Formerly held in Las Vegas, Nevada, the convention now calls Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee, home–a move that pleases event organizers and attendees (this one included). Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) estimates tens of thousands of attendees representing 114 countries contributed $9 million to the local economy between January 31-February 3, 2024. The event carries great significance in Tennessee now, the State Senate issued a resolution honoring the occasion.
This year, top Congressional leaders and political appointees made their presence known at convention.
House Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) - an avid sportsman– delivered brief remarks at a Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation reception held in conjunction with the convention.
“Sometimes it's not about getting bills passed, it's about stopping bad things,” the Congressional Sportsmen Caucus co-chair said.
Westerman discussed the recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule to list natural asset companies (NACs) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It received pushback here at Townhall and elsewhere since it posed a threat to both property rights and public lands access. Shortly after his committee initiated a probe into the rule, the NYSE pulled the plug on January 17th, 2024–a day before the deadline.
He also praised Rep. Mark Green’s (R-TN) and Rep. Richard Hudson's (R-NC) Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act - both members were also in attendance - that restored school funding for hunting, archery, and shooting sports programs after the deceptively-named gun control bill - the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” - was enacted in in June 2022. Rep. Hudson was also honored as SCI’s 2024 Federal Legislator of the Year ahead of this year’s show.
Another speaker shared a startling statistic that 74% of sportsmen and women don’t actively vote in elections due to being low-propensity voters or non-voting. HuntTheVote, a project of HunterNation, claims 50% of hunters and anglers don’t actively vote.
At the Women Go Hunting Ladies Mix and Mingle, attendees heard from Aurelia Skipwith Giacometto - former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Director under President Trump and current Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Secretary under Governor Jeff Landry (R-LA).
Giacometto recounted her time at USFWS and shared, “As director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it was great because I got to get out and meet the people. And it's the decisions that we make in government, either at the federal level or the state level, they make an impact. And the reason why they make an impact, it's because of you. ”
She also contrasted their policies - rooted in the principles of true conservation and balanced use - with the Biden administration’s rewilding, net-zero agenda.
While hunting itself isn’t explicitly partisan, it has become increasingly political these days. The hunting way of life and corresponding conservation funding derived from Pittman-Robertson funds–$16 billion since 1937– are under threat today. Most of the attacks typically emanate from leftist environmentalists attempting to divorce hunters and anglers from management decisions. But some on the Right aren’t innocent either after a handful of House members tried to gut the Pittman-Robertson Act in 2022 after falsely equating it with gun control.
A conservation leader for 52 years, SCI has led the fight against the Biden administration’s anti-hunting regulations. The group warned Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about the implications of abandoning “no net loss”—maintaining existing hunting and fishing access on public lands–yet she greenlit decisions by agencies, like the Alaska Federal Subsistence Board, to close 60 million acres of moose and caribou hunting to non-residents.
The group also cautioned supporters about the near-finalized Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Conservation Landscape and Health rule and uncertainty surrounding hunting access under proposed conservation leases.
“The use of conservation leases to promote conservation is equally problematic to SCI. The proposed rule does not explicitly exempt recreational and guided hunting from land subject to these leases,” their statement reads.
And it has spoken out against conditioning future public land openings for fishing and hunting opportunities on lead phase outs–especially opposing lead tackle and ammo phaseouts on eight national wildlife refuges managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
With the freedom to hunt under attack, SCI is keenly aware of the importance of educating Americans on pro-hunting and pro-Second Amendment priorities.
Their political action committee, Hunter Action Fund, held its annual luncheon at the convention to raise funds in support of pro-sportsmen candidates for the 2024 election cycle. This year, the event hauled in an impressive $300,000 and was attended by a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers including Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Representative Mary Peltola (D-AK).
“The 2024 election cycle will be one of the most competitive – and fundamentally decisive – elections in modern U.S. history, especially regarding the freedom to participate in the ancient heritage of hunting,” SCI Executive Vice President for International Government and Public Affairs Ben Cassidy said in a press release. “To protect and advance our way of life, HAF is working to create a Senate and House majority that will protect, not attack, hunters’ rights and the Second Amendment. At the presidential level, HAF is working to unseat Joe Biden and his anti-hunting cronies from the White House. But we need all the help we can get to secure victory in 2024!”
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