Date: Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 4:09 PM
From: Michael Bane
Subject: OUTDOOR CHANNEL Pulls Productions from Colorado
Dear Senator King:
I met you yesterday after the so-called "public
hearings" on the anti-gun bills; as I mentioned, I am an Executive
Producer for OUTDOOR CHANNEL. I currently have four series in production,
including GUN STORIES, the top show on OC, with several additional series in
development. My series focus on guns, hunting, shooting and the outdoors.
This morning I met with my three Producers, and we made the
decision that if these anti-gun bills become law, we will be moving all of our
production OUT of Colorado. We have already canceled 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. All 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 (for whom I used to work) 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 a 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.
We estimate that as many as one-quarter to one-third of
out-of-state hunters will desert Colorado in the next 18-24 months, which will
quite frankly be a disaster for the hunting industry in Colorado and have a
devastating effect on our western and northern communities (certainly cities
like Grand Junction).
This is not a "boycott" in the traditional sense
of a centralized, organized operation; rather, it is more of a grassroots
decision on where shooters, hunters and other sportsmen are willing to spend
their money. Look at the collapse of the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show in
February. That venerable multimillion dollar trade show chose to ban modern
sporting rifles and standard capacity magazines, and within three weeks it
collapsed as all vendors and sponsors pulled out.
Colorado
is going to pay a huge price for laws that will do nothing. Thank you, sir, for
your support.
Best.
Michael Bane
OUTDOOR CHANNEL
http://www.coloradosenatenews.com/?q=content/outdoor-channel-end-production-colorado
“These radical bills demonstrate that penalizing law-abiding gun owners harms
not only Colorado hunters, but it also damages the economy,” said Senator King.
“If these bills pass, Colorado will become known as an unfriendly state toward
sportsmen and will force other producers across the country to consider other
states.”
Senate Minority Leader Bill Cadman (R-Colorado Springs) added,
“The Democrats are taking their marching orders from extreme liberal New York
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and are ignoring the people who voted for them. He has
promised to “pay” for their support of his agenda in the coming elections. He
(Bloomberg) has now become the de-facto head of the Democrat party and the
de-facto Governor of Colorado. This is a sad day for our state, and could be a
very sad day for the Constitution.”
Northwoods Patriots - Standing up for Faith, Family, Country - northwoodspatriotscomm@gmail.com
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