BLM Drops Proposed Shooting Ban in Sonoran Monument

Firearms and shooting advocates appear to have won a battle after the federal Bureau of Land Management ended a proposed ban on target shooting in the Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona.

The national monument is about 487,000 acres near the town of Gila Bend. A similar proposed ban for the Ironwood National Monument nearer to Tucson is still on the table, but opponents hope it, too, will be dropped.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that cactus and other native plants have been riddled with gunshots, according to federal reports. Ban opponents say that’s not true.

Its fate should be known by late summer, when the BLM is expected to issue a final Ironwood-management plan.

Read the full report here.

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