00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 27                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Congress to pass the Hearing Protection Act.                                                   
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03 WHEREAS art. I, sec. 19, Constitution of the State of Alaska, enshrines a right to                                    
04 keep and bear arms, stating "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free                         
05 state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. The individual right                       
06 to keep and bear arms shall not be denied or infringed by the State or a political subdivision of                       
07 the State."; and                                                                                                        
08       WHEREAS the National Hearing Conservation Association (NHCA) "supports the                                      
09 use of firearm noise suppressors as a form of an engineering noise control to reduce hazardous                          
10 firearm noise exposures"; and                                                                                           
11       WHEREAS the NHCA asserts that "suppressors can be an important hearing                                          
12 conservation tool in preventing [noise-induced hearing loss] in firearms users" and therefore                           
13 "supports passage of the Hearing Protection Act"; and                                                                   
14 WHEREAS Ronald Turk, the former Associate Deputy Director of the federal Bureau                                       
15 of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, stated in a 2017 white paper that "[g]iven the                            
16 lack of criminality associated with silencers, it is reasonable to conclude that they should not                        

01 be viewed as a threat to public safety necessitating [National Firearms Act] classification, and                        
02 should be considered for reclassification under the [Gun Control Act]"; and                                             
03       WHEREAS, in 2011, hunting and wildlife viewing generated $4,100,000,000 in                                      
04 economic activity in the state; and                                                                                     
05       WHEREAS, in fiscal year 2020, the state received nearly $44,000,000 in grants for                               
06 wildlife and sportfish restoration projects from excise tax revenue under the Pittman-                                  
07 Robertson Act; and                                                                                                    
08       WHEREAS, under the Hearing Protection Act, reclassification of suppressors under                                
09 the Gun Control Act would lead to one of the largest increases in excise tax revenue under the                          
10 Pittman-Robertson Act in decades, which would lead directly to increased funding for wildlife                           
11 conservation efforts in the state; and                                                                                
12 WHEREAS the manufacture of suppressors in the state constitutes a viable economic                                     
13 development opportunity, for even remote communities; and                                                             
14 WHEREAS United States Representative Don Young has been a cosponsor of the                                            
15 Hearing Protection Act since 2017; and                                                                                
16 WHEREAS United States Senator Dan Sullivan has been a cosponsor of the Hearing                                        
17 Protection Act since 2019;                                                                                              
18 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                              
19 Congress to immediately pass and implement the Hearing Protection Act.                                                
20 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                       
21 Honorable Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                
22 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.