Posted on 03/16/2009 8:38:26 AM PDT by george76
The National Park Service has set a goal of eliminating lead from fishing and hunting gear by 2010.
Acting Park Service director Dan Wenk announced the goal Wednesday in Washington. Fragments of lead bullets are suspected to contaminate scavenger birds, like ravens and eagles, and lead used as fishing weights could poison waterfowl and other species.
A firearms group was quick to condemn the action.
“The National Park Service’s decision is arbitrary, over-reactive and not based on science,” Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said in a statement. His group is a trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry.
“Studies show that traditional ammunition does not pose a health risk to humans, or wildlife populations as a whole,” he said.
The Park Service is grappling with another firearms issue — whether to allow parks visitors to carry concealed weapons as allowed by permit elsewhere. While the Bush administration implemented new rules allowing concealed weapons, the Obama team is reviewing those in a growing skirmish pitting Second Amendment advocates against conservationists.
In announcing the lead goal, Wenk said a ban would extend to rangers who put down wounded or injured animals.
Jackson Hole News&Guide Outdoors columnist Paul Bruun said he wouldn’t expect a drop in performance from bullets made from substitute metals. At issue will be convenience and cost.
Rifles need to be sighted according to a particular ammunition, and switching from lead to a substitute should include a session at a shooting range to ensure accuracy, he said. Those who load their own ammo also would be inconvenienced, he said.
“I think where you’re going to lose is going to be in your pocketbook,”
(Excerpt) Read more at jacksonholenews.com ...
So let's ban it, just because we can.
Pathetic.
Sure would, but that is why you use the copper jacket...
As the other poster noted, Barnes-X. Been around a while and, not some, quite a few shooters are using them.
I haven't and don't care to be forced to.
Deranged, all of them. Why don’t we all just sit in our homes with no electricity. Stop driving, stop doing anything. Just sit in our homes and read books or magazines that are on the zer0 approved reading list. This is out of control now.
If hunting and fishing are outlawed, just think of all the taxes we wouldn't have to pay for the wardens, management, etc. Oh, wait, it woulddn't even come close to the lost tax revenue sportsmen pump into the economy with their sporting goods, restaurant, RV, camping, hotel purchases, etc.
This isn't just anti-sportsmen, it's anti-business!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Sure would, but that is why you use the copper jacket...
(Never mind the extraordinary cost difference).
They are trying to GET AROUND the concealed carry legalization that Bush implemented, by BANNING THE AMMO!
Not in a properly saboted round
Not as well as uranium with an aluminum jacket. Actually these were tried by the military and although they worked fine in a .50 cal, they had a tendency to turn sideways in a .30 barrel and destroy the barrel. Of course they were using a plastic jacket that would fly off upon leaving the barrel.
You mean “copper” killer bullets? Why does every interaction with a liberal eventually turn retarded sounding?
If lead bullets are so terrible for the environment, I would guess that much of Europe is glowing by now. Considering all of the lead bullets that have been expended on that continent...
To the eco nuts, that's restoring natural balance.
They are turning to domestic livestock
Eco nuts say vegetarianism is the solution
You'll need to watch your pets and your own safety as this progresses.
Eco nuts claim having a pet is criminal.
god luck having a home to sit around in when you cant use timber...
I’ll go on record with this one. I don’t smoke and actually hate it. I also play in a couple of bands that play bars. The smoking ban allowed me to come home from a gig without stinky clothing and equipment.
All that said, I was vehimently opposed to any government imposed smoking ban. If a private business wants to be smoke free, that’s dandy - and I enjoyed playing smoke free clubs.
But this is not the government’s business and the removal of individual rights does far more harm than the damage from second hand smoke it perports to avoid.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”
C. S. Lewis
Yep.
BTW, all hunters/anglers who support the National Wildlife Federation need to know they support this.
From www.theshootingwire.com, and www.theoutdoorwire.com
When the National Park Service decided to ban lead in fishing tackle and ammunition from properties under their control, they probably thought this was another of their little surprised that would stay under the radar. Instead, they’ve found themselves justifiably pilloried by a wide array of organizations representing the hunting and fishing communities and several state legislatures who find their capricious rule-making more than a little offensive.
At this point, the idea of politicians getting angry over bad regulatory policy seems a bit disingenuous, but hey, allies are allies when it comes to the National Park Service.
Anyway, only one group has sent us a release supporting the news that by 2010 the use of lead for fishing or hunting would be banned in the National Park System- the National Wildlife Federation. The NWF has been on the leading edge of the move to ban lead, and has incurred the wrath of hunters and anglers. Groups who have affiliated with the NWF have also found their motives questioned.
The primary fishing and shooting organizations have come out swinging over the decision. The National Shooting Sports Foundation called the decision “arbitrary, over-reactive, and not based on science.”
The American Sportfishing Association says the ban runs “counter to the president’s memo on transparency in government.” ASA Vice President Gordon Robertson says “Their intention to eliminate the use of lead in fishing tackle in national parks was made without prior consultation of the sportfishing industry or the millions of recreational anglers who fish within the national park system.”
“In his January 21, 2009, Executive Memo to federal agency and department heads, President Obama made it very clear that he expects the federal government to be transparent, participatory and collaborative and that ‘executive departments and agencies should offer Americans increased opportunities to participate in policymaking and to provide their Government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.’ We expect the National Park Service to follow the President’s order.”
Unfortunately, that expectation may be misplaced.
In West Virginia, where the New River Gorge National River covers a vast area of land - and is under NPS administration, state officials are questioning whether the NPS policy violates states’ rights. West Virginia wildlife chief Curtis Taylor has gone on record as believing this decision “will come down to the powers of the states versus the power of the federal government.”
Having just returned from a fishing trip on the White River in Arkansas, I know from conversations with guides and anglers that this decision isn’t one they plan to take without making their opposition known.
In three-days of fishing, the secret weapon for catching fish during our trip was a simple white maribou jig. Under NPS regulations, those same jigs would become banned. As one guide remarked, “the government has more than showed they want to tell us what to do, eat, and think. I’ve already had about enough of their telling me how to behave when they’re doing whatever they please - with our money.”
West Virginia officials may have mirrored the rest of the country’s concerns with their considered opposition. As they’ve indicated a willingness to “come to the table” and dialogue with NPS officials, they’re also on record as saying NPS officials coming to the table with a preconceived notion that banning all lead ammo and fishing tackle is the way to go. If that were the case, they told the Charleston Gazette, “it would be difficult to have an effective dialogue under those circumstances.”
The NPS may be facing a lot of difficult dialogues with this seemingly unilateral decision.
We’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
Good.
Maybe this will finally spur the dumb-ass Fudds into realizing that the liberals want to ruin their comfy little sector of the Second Amendment too.
Somewhere out there, there's at least one guy who owns nothing but Perazzi shotguns and voted for Obama who just can't believe what he's reading. Hope this news caused his bunghole to snap shut and ice over with frost.
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