Outdoor Channel Pulls Production From Colorado Due To Co. Senate Betraying 2nd Rights!

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From: Michael Bane
Date: Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 4:09 PM
Subject: OUTDOOR CHANNEL Pulls Productions from Colorado
To: Steve King

Dear Senator King;

I met you yesterday after the so-called  ”public hearings” on
the antigun 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 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 (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 citieslike
 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 [email protected]