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From "The Daily Beast".. Full article can be seen HERE. In a majority opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for even looser gun laws as the nation continues to reel from near-daily mass shootings that have claimed 312 lives in 2022 alone. Thomas, a President George H. W. Bush nominee, wrote in the 6-3 decision that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to carry a gun outside the home. The court struck down New York’s “proper-cause” requirement to obtain a concealed-carry license, saying it “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.” In concurring, Justice Samuel Alito wrote, “The police cannot disarm every person who acquires a gun for use in criminal activity; nor can they provide bodyguard protection for the State’s nearly 20 million residents or the 8.8 million people who live in New York City. Some of these people live in high-crime neighborhoods. Some must traverse dark and dangerous streets in order to reach their homes after work or other evening activities. Some are members of groups whose members feel especially vulnerable. And some of these people reasonably believe that unless they can brandish or, if necessary, use a handgun in the case of attack, they may be murdered, raped, or suffer some other serious injury.” Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. “Consider, too, interactions with police officers,” Breyer wrote. “The presence of a gun in the hands of a civilian poses a risk to both officers and civilians.” Breyer pointed out that laws regulating “the public carriage of weapons” in England date back to the 13th century, and existed in North America since “before the founding.” “Similar laws remained on the books through the ratifications of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments through to the present day,” Breyer wrote. “Many of those historical regulations imposed significantly stricter restrictions on public carriage than New York’s licensing requirements do today.” Speaking to reporters after the ruling was handed down, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to hold the line on gun safety. “We are not powerless to respond to this,” she said. Constitutional lawyer Jeff Lewis told The Daily Beast the decision does more than simply strike down state concealed-carry laws. “The court today establishes a very high bar for all gun restrictions,” he said. “Unless a legislature or court can establish that the regulation existed or was consistent with a regulation that existed at the time the Second Amendment was enacted, a gun restriction will no longer survive a Second Amendment challenge. Very few state gun laws will be able to survive such a high standard.” Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, said he was “appalled” but “not surprised” by the ruling. “This was expected from the Court’s conservative supermajority who have long sought to define the Second Amendment expansively,” he said in an emailed statement. “Their decision was not constitutional, but purely political. Just as the nation grieves children and others who needlessly die from firearm violence, the nation’s highest court is making it much harder to protect the vulnerable.” At the same time, the Legal Aid Society said in its own statement that the decision “may be an affirmative step toward ending arbitrary licensing standards that have inhibited lawful Black and Brown gun ownership in New York.” The ruling, which stems from a Dec. 2020 challenge by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association (NYSRPA), is set to upend the ability of individual states to require concealed carry applicants show “proper cause” for being allowed to leave home armed. The plaintiffs, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, from Upstate New York, were denied carry permits in 2016 and 2018 by county authorities because they did not “face any special or unique danger” to their lives. After instead being granted permits for hunting and target shooting, the two sued—under the umbrella of the NYSRPA, the NRA’s New York affiliate—George P. Beach II, the then-superintendent of the New York State Police, and New York State Supreme Court Justice and Rensselaer County Licensing Officer Richard J. McNally, Jr. “Up until now, the court’s been pretty clear that somebody has the right to have a gun in their own home,” Lewis told The Daily Beast ahead of the ruling. “But what the high court has never weighed in on is…do you have the right outside of your house to have a gun? … The people that challenged this law said, ‘No, the Second Amendment’s absolute—the presumption should be [that] we have the right to a concealed weapon, and should be up to the government to take it away from us on a case-by-case basis, not establishing the right to weaponry on a case- by- case basis.’”

For more information, contact Pete Muller at (803) 637-7698 or pmuller@nwtf.net NWTF Announces Funding for New Wild Turkey Research Projects More than $360,000 will help fund seven projects in six states. ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The National Wild Turkey Federation announced more than $360,000 in funding for seven new research projects in six states addressing the needs of wild turkey populations. The announcement comes during the 12th National Wild Turkey Symposium, a gathering of state and federal wildlife agencies, wild turkey researchers, land managers and enthusiasts focused on wild turkey habitat and population restoration. “Supporting research is a key element to the future of the wild turkey and the NWTF,” NWTF Co-CEO Kurt Dyroff said. “We are excited to support these critical projects made possible through the generous support of Mossy Oak, the NWTF Foundation, various NWTF donors and the NWTF’s Help the Yelp Project.” Dedicated funding will be leveraged multiple times resulting in more $2.5 million worth of research to benefit the wild turkey. In addition to the most recent allocation of more than $360,000 in funding, the NWTF has dedicated $8.3 million to research during its nearly 50-year history. Wild turkey researchers submitted project proposals through NWTF’s Wild Turkey Research Request for Proposals, a program that facilitates and makes large investments in support of priority wild turkey research. This year NWTF invited proposals that investigate the dynamics and drivers of the “post-restoration era.” Applicants must address one or more of the following research priorities: disease, habitat, hunter influence/relationship, population estimates and survival. The proposals were scored and ranked by NWTF staff and the NWTF Technical Committee on the applicability of the projects, scientific rigor, partner engagement and secured matching funds. The projects approved for funding are: “Estimating Survival and Productivity of Translocated Turkeys in North Dakota” studies survival and reproduction of translocated nuisance turkeys compared to control birds in western North Dakota. Nesting activities, mortality causes and infection and exposure rates will be explored. “Impacts of Woody Understory Vegetation and Invasive Species on Roosting Habitat Potential for Wild Turkey” will complement a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department priority to examine changing roost site habitat in the Rolling Plains region of Texas. The study will classify vegetation and non-native, invasive species and then conduct a change assessment across the Edwards Plateau to determine impact. “Vital Rates and Population Growth of Merriam’s Turkeys in South-Central South Dakota” will estimate annual survival and reproductive probabilities for adult and yearling age-classes of wild turkeys. Data will estimate population rates with results being compared to mid-1980s conditions. “Novel Approaches to Estimating Wild Turkey Population Parameters” will use non-invasive techniques to gather DNA specimens from eight sites throughout Mississippi. Part of the study areas will work in conjunction with wildlife management areas in an ongoing experiment investigating the influence of a delayed and reduced spring season framework on turkey populations and harvest. “Rio Grande Wild Turkey Habitat and Genetic Connectivity, Disease Prevalence and Survival in the Texas Edwards Plateau Ecoregion” will explore turkey abundance against a decreased number of hunters and turkeys harvested in recent years. Environmental factors such as flooding, unmanaged grazing and damage to vegetation are some study areas. The impact of parasites and disease also will be reviewed. “Development and Application of Diagnostic Techniques to Better Understand Impacts of Tumor-Causing Viruses (LPDV and RV) in Wild Turkeys” will look at where and to what extent diseases are distributed throughout the body of infected wild turkeys. “Ecology of an Unhunted Wild Turkey Population” provides research on an unhunted population of wild turkeys across a large study site in South Carolina. Collected data will analyze wild turkey behavior in the absence of hunting activity, hunting pressure and harvest of males. Data will be compared to other populations in the Southeast and beyond. “The projects that we are supporting demonstrate the partnerships and collaboration that is needed to understand what is impacting wild turkeys across the country,” said Mark Hatfield, NWTF national director of conservations services. “I have confidence that the network of researchers and managers from around the country are going to utilize the same ingenuity that helped restore wild turkeys in North America to understand what is driving the health of the wild turkey population.” The 12th National Wild Turkey Symposium is co-hosted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and National Wild Turkey Federation, through June 10, in Asheville, North Carolina. About the National Wild Turkey Federation When the National Wild Turkey Federation was founded in 1973, there were about 1.3 million wild turkeys in North America. After decades of work, that number hit a historic high of almost 7 million turkeys. To succeed, the NWTF stood behind science-based conservation and hunters' rights. Today, the NWTF is focused on the future of hunting and conservation through its Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. initiative. Since 2012, this 10-year initiative has already eclipsed goals of conserving or enhancing more than 4 million acres of essential wildlife habitat, recruiting or retaining more than 1.5 million hunters and opening access to more than 500,000 acres for hunting and other recreation opportunities. This critical work will continue to impact wildlife habitat and our great outdoors in the final years of the initiative. National Wild Turkey Federation PO Box 530 Edgefield South Carolina 29824 United States

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