Too many wildfires caused by gun owners, says Utah governor (+video)

Christian Science Monitor ^ | 23 June 2012 | Patrik Jonsson

[smokingfrog]

Some of the wildfires scorching the West this year were sparked by unusual culprits: Gun owners. Or, more specifically, gun shooters.

As with the Dump fire in Utah, which flared hard enough on Friday to force the evacuation of 1,500 homes and 9,000 people, nearly two dozen conflagrations, officials say, have started accidentally by careless target shooters whose bullet sparks touch off dried-up pinon and wild grasses.

“Now is not a good time to take your gun outside and start shooting in cheat grass that’s tinder dry,” Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday.

While authorities can ban certain fire-related activities when fire risks are high, that’s not true with guns, the carrying and use of which are staunchly protected by state and federal law, including several recent Supreme Court decisions.

[smokingfrog]

It seems unlikely that gunfire would start a wildfire, unless you were using tracers or shooting exploding targets.

[GenXteacher]

The bullet would just about have to strike stone or metal to make sparks. The chances of a fire starting that way strike me as rather small.

[Chode]

feh...

[SpaceBar]

My BS meter is pegged. Blame guns and run interference for illegal alien encampments all in one convenient press release.

[Tupelo]

I think the Gov has been watching way too many movies.
I think it is possible to start a fire with a projectile from a firearm, but not too probable.
Maybe this is something that could be taken up by the Mythbusters.

[nvscanman]

Go shooting at night in the rocky desert sometime....
you would be amazed at the number of times you will
see the round create a spark as it glances off of a rock.

Now translate that same scenario to the hot dry cheat grass
covered high desert where the wind blows almost incessantly
during hot weather. The result is invariable lots of
fires that grow very quickly due to the conditions.
Cheat grass is almost as flammable as gasoline....once
a stand of it catches fire it can burn at the rate of
20-30 feet per minute and more.

The Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear
arms.....when, where and how those arms are used however
is not so protected. Laws banning the discharge of guns
inside city limits don’t violate our rights, so laws that
limiting target shooting under certain fire risk conditions
would be equally reasonable.

Keeping and bearing arms infringes on nobody elses rights....but when you start using those arms you
start running the risk of infringing on the rights of
others, and that’s where rights start mutating into
privilege.

[Chode]

and he looks like he blows too...

[tumblindice]

As an "In the same vein" note, we all know why Smokey the Bear never had children. Whenever his wife got hot, he beat her with a shovel. Can you imagine what might have happened if he had been armed? Let's not arm bears. Oh kay? And what was Smokey's middle name? Anyone? Ferris? Not here? Beavis? Butthead?

[varmintman]

Guy’s smokin too much reefer...

[DBrow]

http://wildfiretoday.com/2012/05/02/al-qaeda-magazine-encourages-forest-fire-arson-in-the-us/

http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2012/06/24/were-the-horrible-new-mexico-and-colorado-fires-set-by-al-qaeda-muslim-terrorists-video/

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/al-qaida-magazine-urges-terrorists-to-set-wildfires-in-montana/article_33122cb4-30b1-5f70-a917-c6a58a629cd5.html

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/national_world&id=8646527

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-calls-massive-forest-fires-montana/story?id=16263981

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/al-qaeda-inspire-magazine-returns_n_1475695.html

Ayup, American gun owners to blame fer shur! Reel in that second amendment, to be safe from wildfires!

[Little Ray]

This is a pile of crap and you know it.
Lightning, smokers and campers are more likely sources of wildfires. Hell, Jihadis are a more likely source of wild fire and that’s a vanishingly small source of wild fires.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

They were planning on F&F ending private gun ownership.

Now that that ship has sailed, they have to come up with something else.

[lightman]

Bovine excrement.

[ridesthemiles]

Soooooo—Governor—A ‘controlled burn’ by the U S Forest Service in the Schell Range at the western edge of Utah, near Cherry Creek Pony Express station is OK?????

That fire is still burning in the Schell Range & closed US Hwy 93 —a major N/S route in eastern Nevada for 3 days.

I have ridden a horse thru that part of the Schell range & it WAS beautiful.

[Chickensoup]

I cannot begin to tell you how much I dont believe this story.

Leftist lies and media buys.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Years ago I read a history of the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese.

Some of our soldiers went to the jungle as guerrillas, and one cool night they tried to start a fire by soaking a blanket in gasoline and firing a rifle at it. They had no matches. No matter what they did they could not get a fire to start.

[smokingfrog]

They’re talking mainly about a fire that started at a dump. I would imagine there might be all kinds of things at a dump that could start a fire. Shooters do need to take some precautions, but this sounds a little over the top to me.

[norton]

Fox had Governor Herbert on earlier today and he made the "now is not a good time.." allegation on air.

Someone will have to show me a fire started by shooting anything normal into dry grass.

After about 35 years involving deserts, handguns, and rifles; I've seen dirt, rock chips, wood chips, and sometimes nothing at all but never a fire.
You can make sparks hitting a steel plate, I presume a derelict car body could make sparks as well, but I'd also guess it would take a miracle for either one to light the of driest kindling.

(That said; any responsible target shooter will predetermine that his or her backstop is safe, for the shooter, for other people, and for any natural risks. And, I've never heard of a fire started by a hunter pulling the trigger on Bambi.)

[EyeGuy]

I thought Utah was among the most conservative states in the US.

How did they end up with this ignorant, propagandizing rodent?

[smokingfrog]

Maybe this is something that could be taken up by the Mythbusters.

Sounds like a good idea. Pile up some cheat grass around a pile of flint rock and shoot at it. Let's see what happens.