Do you think the EPA will ban lead bullets (they are considering it now)?

Question

http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/epa-reviewing-request-ban-led-bullets

I can understand banning lead shot that's used in wetlands but don't bullets mainly stay at the shooting range backstop, a persons property, or in the animal that's hit?

Answer 1

Will they? Possibly.



Should they? Absolutely not. The research showing any harm from large lead bullets is very flimsy at best. As said by another poster - lead was originally dug up out of the ground. Going back into the ground isn't harming anything, and most of these bullets are far too large for a bird to pick it up and ingest it (the original concern with lead shot in wetlands).



Not to mention that this will have the MOST effect on target shooting, not hunting. Most people shoot a limited amount when hunting. If I had to shoot pure copper bullets for hunting I wouldn't have any problem affording that. If hunting bullets go from $1 each to $4-5 each hunting (where I shoot 8-10 rounds per season) would still be financially possible. What it WOULD put an end to was any shooting done at the target range. I couldn't afford to go out and shoot a few hundred pure copper or other so-called "non-toxic" shot in an evening.



I suspect though, that that's the real goal anyways. It's not about hunting, it's about further complicating the ability to go out and enjoy shooting. The more obstacles, the less people do it. The less people shooting guns, the less people who own them. With that comes fewer opposing voices when a total ban is proposed.

Answer 2

This is an end run attempt by the anti hunting and anti gun crowd to make it more difficult to hunt or shoot for sport. A few years ago they tried much the same thing with the federal Center for Disease Control by trying to declare firearms a public health hazard. Congress stepped in and let the CDC know that every dollar they spent on gun control efforts would be removed from their funding in the next budget cycle. The CDC backed off immediately.

The ban on lead shot for migratory water fowl is estimated to be 95% effective and has been in place for a number of years now. The only effect is less lead in the crops of harvested birds, no real change in total populations that can be tied to the total ban on lead shot.

A ban on all lead based hunting ammo in California has failed to have any noticeable effect on their condor population which was used to justify the rule in the first place.

There are billions of rounds of loaded ammo and many times more of component bullets already in private hands. The new EPA rule would be a serious blow to sportsmen, hunters, and target shooters; and would effectively prohibit the import of cheap surplus ammunition from foreign sources.

Answer 3

I was the first one to bring it up here. https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20100825123204AAgxhHr



The EPA is run by an anti-hunting extremist appointed by obama. Similar in the train of thought to the people who want hunted blanket banned nationwide. Like PETA, HSUS and the like. The facts are on our side, all they have is emotional pandering and loaded "studies".



As of this point how can we tell? Common sense would say this is stupid, hell they don't even have the authority. But you really think these people have common sense. These are people who *** there pants at night in there dreams of America being like china in this regard.



Still I don't know. Do what you can do. Send letters, make phone calls, tell as many people as you can about it. I doubt they will act until they have to. They must either approve or reject it. Once this become viral if pushed the dems will lose whatever gun vote they still could get.

Answer 4

They might, I know they want to. In fact if they could they would ban bullets altogether. But consider this; how many lead bullets were fired in WW1 and 2? LOTS! Yet the towns in Germany, Poland, and France etc haven’t noticed lead poisoning. In fact they grow produce in fields that had heavy combat. And is anyone getting lead poisoning from that produce? Nope.

In California they failed to mention the old mines that have water running out of them into streams with a super high lead content. Did they seal off those mines? No. Where did that water go, it went into the ocean where shellfish picked up this toxin and the sea otter ate those shell fish and when they died Condors ate some. They didn’t include that in their study either. Nor did they include run off from military bases and factories.



Its all a scam with carefully played propaganda. I have a friend with 30 #4 lead bird shot in his body. Its been there since 1970. He has a IQ of 150 and is in perfect health. Now if that bird shot was ground up to a powder and he ate it then it would be bad for him but it would take years of a continuous amount to kill you. I knew a guy who didn’t have a exhaust fan in his reloading room where he melted lead. He breathed those fumes for 20 years and it killed him. They found super high levels of lead in his body.

What I’m trying to say is yes lead can be bad for you but you are not going to get lead poison from shooting game with lead bullets. But if you breathe lead dust and inhale lead fumes it will do damage to you. Hunters in the field do neither.

If the EPA wants to prevent us being poisoned they need to address all the toxins emitted from factories, old mines, military bases etc that emit billions of tons of the junk. They found traces of jet fuel in produce grown on farmland that used to be an air force base. But they didn’t do a thing about it.



Hey EPA why dont you fix this;

http://www.tu.org/conservation/abandoned-mines-western-us/abandoned-mine-impacts



EDIT; Hey seems the EPA said it wont ban lead bullets now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100828/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_lead_ammunition_ban

Answer 5

Lead comes from the ground, exactly how is it harmful to shoot lead back into the ground? The lead ban has nothing to do with environmental concerns, it's yet another government ploy to handicap legal gun ownership by citizens.

Answer 6

As regards statements that lead bullets have been banned in areas that the California Condor has never been seen, that's absurd. I doubt the person above who said that is an expert on the California Condor.



Lead bullet should be banned for hunting.

Answer 7

The proper place to submit a comment or opinion to the EPA is here: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480b3974b



They are asking for our comments. Let's send them in.

Answer 8

"Do you think the EPA will ban lead bullets . . . ?"



Does a rooster have a pecker?

Answer 9

id ban them in wetlands and hunting grounds because of the effects they can have but i wouldn't ban them at shooting ranges . or if u used the right caliber i wouldnt ban it in some hunting if it stayed inside the animal

Answer 10

They took lead out of gasoline because it was harming us all, and I believe lead in bullets should ONLY be allowed in shooting ranges where they can collect it harmlessly.