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20 Students Participate in First Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Summer Camp

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Louisiana --(Ammoland.com)- The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) held their inaugural Summer Camp from July 18-22 at the Waddill Outdoor Education Center in Baton Rouge for children 12 to 16 years old.

The camp was completely free of charge and participants were able to receive their official LDWF boater and hunter education certifications.

The camp was split up between class room work and outdoor activities that consisted of fishing and canoeing in the ponds at the Waddill Outdoor Education Center, skeet shooting, air rifles, archery and casting practice.

“The camp was a great success and well received by the kids and their parents. The department will definitely sponsor more camps for next summer since we had such a great demand and response for this first one,” said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham.

“Since most classes for boating and hunting education are done in one day, this camp allowed for a lot of extra time during the week for the kids to get hands on experience and guidance on a number of outdoor activities.”

The camp was open to the first 20 children that registered who did not already have a boater or hunter education certificate. The following kids completed all five days of the camp and received their boating and hunting education certifications:

Tyler Irvin, 12, of Gonzales; Jordan London, 12, of Baton Rouge; Taiylar DeMoss, 12, of Baton Rouge; Devon Regira, 12, of Geismar; Darren Ficklin, 12 of Geismar; Colton Strain, 12, of Clinton; Chance Truett, 13, of Baton Rouge; Scott Sugasti, 13, of Barataria, Daniel Sant, 13, of Baton Rouge, Cade Hood, 12, of Walker; Emma Gordon, 15, of Baton Rouge, Jeffrey Ragusa, 13, of Gonzales; Alexander Williams, 12, of St. Gabriel; Mac Prudhomme, 13, of Baton Rouge; David Johnson, 14, of Baton Rouge; Jamey Jacocks, 16, of Geismar; Jacob Jacocks, 15, of Geismar; Hunter Rube, 15, of Baton Rouge; and Cedric Brown Jr., 13, of Thibodaux. Sari Sant, 15, of Baton Rouge, received her hunting education certificate, but had to leave the camp early and missed the boating education portion.

On the final day of the camp, LDWF held a skills challenge consisting of skeet shooting, archery, canoeing obstacle course, fish identification test, casting and fishing contests to determine which two campers would win lifetime hunting and fishing licenses. The Louisiana Wildlife Agents Association (LWAA) donated lifetime hunting and fishing license went to Ficklin. Sugasti won the lifetime hunting and fishing license donated by the Louisiana branch of the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA).

The LWAA and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation provided a daily lunch free of charge for the five-day summer camp. Cabela’s in Gonzales also donated a rod and reel combo set that each child received to upon completion of the camp. CCA also had volunteers on site and gave each student a CCA membership.

The boating education course is mandatory for anybody born after Jan. 1, 1984 to operate a motorboat in excess of 10 horsepower. The course includes information on choosing a boat, classification, hulls, motors, legal requirements and equipment requirements. The course also covers many navigation rules and charts, trailering, sailboats, canoeing, personal watercraft and more.

The hunter education course is mandatory for anyone born on or after Sept. 1, 1969, who plans on purchasing a hunting license. The hunter education curriculum includes sections on ethics and responsibility, wildlife management, firearms and ammunition, safety in the field, wildlife identification and wildlife conservation. The major objectives of the hunter education programs are to reduce the number of hunting accidents, improve the image of hunting through ethical and responsible conduct and promote the shooting sports.

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Congressman Ron Paul Introduces Legislation to Protect School Children from Mass Murderers

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Columbine. Virginia Tech. Fort Hood.

What do all of these shootings have in common?

The answer is they all occurred in government facilities where the private possession of firearms was prohibited.

In Washington, unconstitutional legislation is commonplace. But sometimes unconstitutional laws can have deadly consequences. The so-called “gun free school zones act,” written by radical anti-gun Senator Heb Kohl, is one such law.

Slammed through in 1996 as an amendment to a giant last-minute must-pass appropriations bill, the legislation disarmed school staff and other adults – leaving elementary and secondary school children defenseless to serial killers.

It also made it virtually impossible to drive your car down the street with your gun inside without violating the law by creating a 1000-foot so-called “gun-free zone” around every public and private school in the country.

“Gun free,” that is, except for the criminals.

No one – including politicians, the police, or the individual citizen – can predict where the next deranged serial killer will attack. And yet politicians continue to create “criminal safe zones” such as schools, churches, parks, restaurants that serve alcohol, etc., where the law-abiding are disarmed.

The net impact of turning schools, in particular, into defenseless targets for serial killers has been dramatic.

When many people over the age of 40 were growing up, ROTC students would march up-and-down high school campuses with their semi-automatic M1’s – and no one would think anything of it. Shooting clubs on school grounds were also not uncommon.

But within a couple a years of the enactment of the Kohl amendment, two disaffected teenagers walked into Columbine High School secure in the knowledge that they would be the only ones in the school who were armed.

And, of course, Columbine triggered a slew of copycat episodes – laying a mounting string of innocent casualties at the feet of Herb Kohl and his misbegotten legislation.

It’s time to say NO to criminal safe zones. And a great place to start is the blatantly unconstitutional gun free school zones act.

Thankfully, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) agrees and has introduced legislation to do just that.

Rep. Paul recently introduced the “Citizens Protection Act of 2011” (H.R. 2613), which will repeal the Kohl amendment and thus remove the federally created criminal safety zones.

Rep. Paul is one of the few members of Congress who respects the Constitution and who actually introduces legislation to restore federalism. And, unlike some legislators, Paul has a history of forcing the House to vote on his pro-gun proposals, thus putting other congressmen on record.

GOA is proud to stand with Rep. Paul in the effort to repeal the unconstitutional gun free zones law. For anyone who cares about liberty, now is the time to work on getting the 218 votes we need to pass this important piece of legislation.

ACTION: Contact you congressman. Urge him or her to cosponsor Ron Paul’s Citizens Protection Act of 2011, H.R. 2613.

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul

Filed under: Gun Rights News by Ammoland 4 Comments »