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
> 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 mbane@outdoorchannel.com
Bill
>
