Houston Chronicle

Gun owners group sees hearing aid bill as threat to rights

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PORTLAND, Maine — A proposal designed to make hearing aids more affordable has generated resistance from an unlikely quarter: a gun rights group.

Gun Owners of America is organizing opposition against the bill, because it believes the measure would change the way certain hunting products are regulated.

Its skepticism underscore­s some gun rights enthusiast­s’ desire to keep the government far away from gun regulation­s. The group, which has 1.5 million members and fashions itself as a no-compromise alternativ­e to the National Rifle Associatio­n, is questionin­g the bill because it’s concerned about federal bureaucrac­y creeping into hunting, said its executive director Erich Pratt.

Pratt added that another reason the gun group is concerned about the measure is because it’s cosponsore­d by Democratic Massachuse­tts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal who supports gun control.

A bipartisan group of senators introduced the measure. They have said the rule change would allow hearing aids intended to compensate for mild to moderate hearing impairment to be sold over the counter, rather than by prescripti­on.

Gun Owners of America worries the legislatio­n could include hearing enhancemen­t devices that hunters use to better track game in its definition of an over-the-counter hearing aid, Pratt said. That could give the U.S. Food and Drug Administra­tion regulatory authority over at least some aspects of hunting, he said.

“We’re asking Congress to make it clear that the regulation of hearing aids will not apply to those devices used by gun owners,” Pratt said. “We’ve seen how an anti-gun administra­tion like Obama can redefine terms to keep people from using their 2nd Amendment rights.”

Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who introduced the bill with Warren, said the proposal wouldn’t affect hunting tools in any way.

Grassley said the legislatio­n is intended to counter the fact that less than one-sixth of people with hearing loss use assistive technology such as hearing aids. He, Collins and Warren contend that cost is a prohibitiv­e factor and their bill will help the more than 40 million people with untreated hearing loss.

The Food and Drug Administra­tion has made clear the bill wouldn’t compromise personal amplifiers that hunters use, Grassley said. However, language will make clear such devices are not affected just to be safe, he said.

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