Utah Wildfires Blamed on Gun Owners!!

Too many wildfires caused by gun owners, says Utah governor

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.

According to Reuters, this fire was started by Gun shooters, shooting targets. Now, Im in Canada, specifically, Alberta. Every year, we get a ton of fires burning here, mostly in the north part of the province. And, from our news and what i've found online, our fires are usually started by lightining strikes and careless people. BUT, not from shooting guns... mostly from not putting out campfires, throwing still burning cigarettes out the window into dry road-side grass, etc etc.
This is the first i've heard of Guns being blamed on starting a fire... Thats not to say its not possible just cause I haven't heard of it.

The bigger thing for me here, and it has to do with what starts most fires in my area, is the implication that Guns are bad, and soo bad that they are starting fires that threaten homes and lives. What concerns me is the potential blame on guns, instead of the blame on poor owners.

For example, I have camped many times, and started many fires in a firepit. I have always controlled them properly, and made sure when i leave so extinguish them properly. However, there are many MANY fires per year started by careless, lazy people who don;t do things right. This has also led to extended fire bans, not just because it was dry, but to try to ensure that enough 'stupid' people don't go out and start fires and leave them unnatended or extinguish them improperly.

reading through the story, it appears that this crisis may be used in the future to implement emergency gun bans(remember, don't let a good crisis go to waste)

In Utah, for example, a state law prohibits the state from enacting emergency bans on guns, putting Gov. Herbert in a position of instead asking county governments to issue emergency rules for outdoor gun use as wildfire conditions prevail across the West.

In North Carolina, gun rights activists have successfully fought legal battles to make sure governors can’t ban guns during emergencies

2nd Amendment, right to bear arms right? WHAT IF, a fire is started, say from stupidity, say on purpose (False flag) and the state involved implements an emergency gun ban... it would be the perfect time to take away rifles and guns from folks under guise that you can't trust them to not use them to inadvertently start fires. May be far-fretched, AND, it appears that this fire was a result of stupidity, BUT, can you see the potential implications here?

for example,

Moves to protect gun owners from emergency gun bans is an emerging front in the national debate over gun rights.

In March, a committee in the Colorado legislature killed a proposed bill that would have restricted the state from banning citizen-carry of guns during an emergency

See what I mean? There is a push to limit/restrict legit gun owners during times of emergency... pretty scary. The whole point of the 2nd amendment is to allow US citizens the RIGHT to defend themselves, the RIGHT to own a gun....
It is a touchy subject cause they can and have started fires that threaten lives and property, thats bad. I feel for those evacuees in Utah.. BUT, how far can these gun control restrictions go? I see the point of banning them when the conditions are prime for fires, BUT, what if that FIRE is staged to take away/punish/charge gun owners?!

Again, possibly far-fetched, kinda. I can easily see governments using this as a tactic to continue to restrict and remove guns from citizens..

Also posted on RawStory

Thoughts?!

ah geeeez, guns again ???
can't they come up with a more viable target ??
holy schmokes, i can start plenty of fires with the sun and my glasses, quicker too.

it would be the perfect time to take away rifles and guns from folks under guise that you can't trust them to not use them to inadvertently start fires.

so, would that mean that perhaps i should hide my glasses too ??
afterall, if i leave them uncovered while swimming, they could start a fire.
actually, if they are hapazardly placed and uncovered, they WILL start a fire, that's exactly how i learned this lesson.

This is so dumb. I'm surprised they didn't blame it on cigarette smokers or truck owners.

If a gun owner *were* to start a fire, they'd more likely than no have enough sense to put that puppy out. Just more political pandering from people pushing an agenda.

If you're going to blame anyone, blame the people that have control of the weather...no one. Work on solving the issue at hand instead of pointing freaking fingers.

I saw this story earlier and considered posting it, but I went about researching the topic instead and here's what I came up with.

When firing regular ball ammo (lead and copper), it is extremely difficult to start a fire. Folks have attempted to replicate this with little effect. It's possible gun shooters are starting these fires if they are either A) Firing Tracer Ammunition, which is illegal in Utah, or B) Firing steel core ammo. Aside from that, it's going to be very difficult to cause a fire via conventional ammo consisting of lead and copper. I concluded this is a case of placing the blame where convenient.

Here's some good reading on the topic of starting fires while shooting at a website called thehighroad

Finally, while the rate of wildfires this year may or may not be out of the ordinary, I swear I recall hearing something about Al'Qaeda intelligence gathered at some point in the past (bin Laden raid intel?) suggested starting a number of wildfires in the US was one tactic that they discussed. I wish I could find a source to that claim, now, that fires are burning out of control but no luck.

reply to post by Sek82


Good Job on the research!

I hadn't heard of 'Al CIA' claiming to attack through wildfires, but I did find it!

ABC News

WASHINGTON (KABC) -- Al Qaeda terrorists are calling on followers to ignite wildfires in the U.S., which could make California a target.


Californians have seen their share of devastating wildfires, some large enough to wipe out whole neighborhoods in a matter of minutes. It is the kind of destruction terrorists are now hoping to take advantage of. An al Qaeda-linked website is now calling on extremists to set fires in remote areas.

The websites even provide instructions on how to make fire bombs and firefighters are taking it seriously.

"It does not seem all that farfetched. A wildfire moves quite quickly and can inflict damage, and if people have that intent, it's very frightening," said Battalion chief Julie Hutchinson with the California Fire Department.

Wake up sheeple,...steel jacketed rounds CAN and DO cause fires in dry grasses.

And they arent trying to ban guns. That doesnt happen in Utah where everyone is armed including housewives.

www.realclearpolitics.com...



Next someone will try to blame this on Obama,...or even George Bush.

You gun enthusiests out there,.. you know the truth.

But it is lame to say this is a 'anti gun' effort. It isnt.

reply to post by Nspekta
You as well, I know this thread was started on the premise that Utah Gov thinks it's guns. I think we can handle looking at two different angles on these fires in one thread. If someone wants to run away with it and create a separate thread on it, go for it.

The following is an FBI situational information report detailing the Al Qaida magazine Inspire and it's calling for wildfires in the US.

(Unclassified) Al-Qaida In The Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) "Inspire" Magazine Encourages The Use Of Wildfires As A Form Of Jihad (pdf-7 May)

So what's really causing these wildfires? Lightning, guns, or... Terrorists?

i live a few miles away from this latest fire and would like to share some local info. first off, this happens every year, in fact this is the 20th (not a typo) fire this season started by people shooting guns. the problem is the location of where this takes place, it used to be less of a problem years ago when this area was just dry desert area but in the last 5-10 years the area has exploded with new subdivisions but everybody still shoots their guns in the same spots which are getting closer and closer to neighborhoods. thats why its making bigger news, it used to be a news report that sounded like this," target shooters started a wildfire near the utah lake, no homes or people in danger." now the news report goes like this, "BREAKING NEWS! hundreds of homes in Saratoga Springs threated by fire started by careless target shooters near utah lake, evacuations imminent.

So far there has been zero talk of banning target shooting in the state. at the very least they will setup some sort of temporary ban on shooting in that particular area during the hottest dry months. Utah has some of the better laws concerning guns and is a very conservative state. Because of the circumstances i envision that they will just push us further out of town to shoot our guns so as not to threaten homes.

exactly on point turbokid,.. spot on and on target.