Outdoor Channel Blacklists Colorado Over Gun Control Laws - GunAuction Newsletters
Complete Text of Letter: http://coloradosenatenews.com/Downloads/MichaelBane.pdf
Outdoor Channel Blacklists Colorado Over Gun Control Laws
(GunAuction.com) — The Outdoor Channel, a very popular cable network for hunters, fishermen and outdoors type people, has notified the Colorado Senate Republican Caucus that they are prepared to pull all of their productions out of the state if the anti-gun laws are passed. Currently, the Outdoor Channel has four cable program series being produced in Colorado, including their most popular program ‘Gun Stories.’
Michael Bane, executive producer and host of Outdoor Channel, sent an email to State Sen. Steve King (R-Grand Junction) stating in part:
“This morning I met with my three Producers, and we made the decision that if these antigun bills become law, we will be moving all of our production OUT of Colorado. We have already cancelled a scheduled filming session for late this month. Obviously, part of this is due to our own commitment to the right to keep and bear arms, but it also reflects 3 lawyers’ opinions that these laws are so poorly drafted and so designed to trap otherwise legal citizens into a crime (one of our attorneys referred to them as ‘flypaper laws’) that it is simply too dangerous for us to film here.”
“I can give you chapter and verse on the legal implications if you need, but suffice to say that the first legal opinion was so scary we went out and got two others. Al three attorneys agreed.”
“We are relatively small potatoes in television, but our relocation of production will cost Colorado a little less than a million dollars in 2013.”
“Secondly, we have proudly promoted Colorado in our productions (and have been moving more and more production into the state); now we will do exactly the opposite. What does this mean for Colorado? The community of television producers is a small one. Last week I had lunch with a major network producer who was looking to locate his new reality series in Colorado. That producer is also a shooter, and the new reality series will now be based out of Phoenix. That lunch cost Colorado over a million in economic impact.
“Thirdly, according to numbers I received from the National Shooting Sports Foundation yesterday, hunting had an almost $800,000,000 impact on Colorado in 2012, driving as many as 8330 jobs. Next month I will be in Texas meeting with most of the top outdoor/hunting producers, and the Number One agenda item will be Colorado. Already, hunting organizations and statewide hunting clubs around the country are pulling out of Colorado, and we expect this trend to accelerate rapidly.”
“The message we will take to our viewers and listeners is that these proposed laws are so dangerous to hunters and any other person, be she a fisherman or a skier who brings a handgun into the state for self-defense, that we cannot recommend hunting, fishing or visiting Colorado. We reach millions of people, and, quite frankly, we have credibility that Colorado government officials can no longer match. Colorado Division of Wildlife is already running ads trying to bring more out-of-state hunters to Colorado…in light of the flood of negative publicity about these proposed laws, I can assure you those ads will fail.”
Read the complete letter here
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Complete Text of Letter: http://coloradosenatenews.com/Downloads/MichaelBane.pdf
