Singled out?

As I write this we have 8 large wildfires burning in the state of Utah, totaling just under 200,000 acres.

Open campfires are banned statewide.  Fireworks are banned in all unincorporated areas of the state.

Yet the headline in the Salt Lake Tribune today reads “Utah shooters fear they will be singled out.”

First off, “singled out” implies that you will be the only one, or group, that is asked to sacrifice.  This is not so.  Campers are being asked to sacrifice, so are people who like to set off their own fireworks.  At the very least, target shooters are being “tripled out”.

I watched the press conference where our governor announced that there may be a ban on target shooting outside of organized target ranges.  It was more of an apology than an announcement.  I was surprised as he hemmed and hawed around the Second Amendment, apologized for even thinking of it and seemed to be begging forgiveness from the gun lobby.  I really shouldn’t have been surprised, I know the influence these people have in our state.  Hell, we have an official state handgun.  But I thought this was a no-brainer.

We’re burning up, our resources are spread thin already.  90% of the state’s wildfires are human caused, a good portion of that because of situations by people who should have known better.  We need to do everything we can to keep it from getting even worse.

Everyone needs to do what they can to prevent any more fires, and if that means we have to give up one of our favorite recreational activities for the next few months, instead of bitching and moaning, we should willingly do so.