Posted by Brian Darling
August 27, 2010
The Obama Administration is considering using the vast power of the federal government to ban the sale of certain types of ammunition. This administrative ban would increase cost for hunters and fisherman dramatically. If implemented, this ban would go against the will of the American people. Furthermore, this action is an inappropriate use of federal power.
U.S. News and World Report posted a story today indicating that President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering a ban on lead bullets and sinkers in the name of protecting the environment. This ban, if put into place, would dramatically increase the cost of ammunition for hunters and lead sinkers for anglers. If gun owners needed any more evidence that the Obama Administration is looking for creative ways to take away the Second Amendment rights of all Americans, they need to look no further than this new proposed rule.
This is an idea that would have absolutely no chance of passing in Congress, yet liberals in the Obama Administration clearly are looking for ways to implement a creative means to raise the prices of ammunition and infringe on hunter’s rights. The American people reject gun control, yet the EPA does not care about the will of the American people. Remember, this is the same Administration that nominated two anti-Second Amendment lawyers to the Supreme Court, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
From the story:
The National Rifle Association, already on high alert over gun control rumors, has gone to battle stations to fight a new scheme before the Environmental Protection Agency to restrict hunters and anglers from using lead bullets, shot and sinkers.
John McCormack of the Weekly Standard has an excellent piece where he explains that this creative means to regulate gun ownership through doubling the cost of ammunition for deer hunters.
Several environmentalist groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are petitioning the EPA to ban lead bullets and shot (as well as lead sinkers for fishing) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Although EPA is barred by statute from controlling ammunition, CBD is seeking to work farther back along the manufacturing chain and have EPA ban the use of lead in bullets and shot because non-lead alternatives are available. But here’s the catch: the alternatives to lead bullets are more expensive. A ban on the sale of lead ammunition would force hunters and sport shooters to buy non-lead ammunition that is often double the cost of traditional lead ammunition. A box of deer hunting bullets in a popular caliber could be upwards of $55.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Director Chris Cox has written a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson urging the EPA to stand down, because the EPA does not have authority under existing law to ban a certain type of ammunition.
We are writing to urge you to reject a petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and others asking the EPA to ban lead shot and bullets under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Simply put, the Act does not grant the EPA the authority to regulate ammunition of any composition.
Hunters and fisherman need to keep a close eye on environmental bureaucrats to make sure that they don’t ban lead fishing sinkers and ammunition under the pre-text of protecting the environment.
UPDATE: The Obama Administration has backed away from banning lead in bullets, but may allow a ban on lead fishing sinkers. From U.S. News and World Report:
In a swift and unexpected decision, the Environmental Protection Agency today rejected a petition from environmental groups to ban the use of lead in bullets and shotgun shells, claiming it doesn’t have jurisdiction to weigh on the controversial Second Amendment issue. The decision came just hours after the Drudge Report posted stories from Washington Whispers and the Weekly Standard about how gun groups were fighting the lead bullet ban.
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If lead bullets were outlawed, imagine how many gun owners might be arrested using lead bullets purchased previously. Compare: In 1994, the U.S. Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno proposed introducing legislation that would allow U.S. Government “summary forfeiture” of unregistered firearms. DOJ intended to eliminate government’s high costs of forfeiture proceedings required to confiscate guns (by baring gun owners from being able to prove) their confiscated weapons were legally registered or did not come under the “technical definition” of a gun that must be registered. A Government ban on lead bullets would bring gun owners to the same place. Also in 1994 the Justice Dept proposed gun legislation that included the words “premises containing illegal weapons” written like drug asset forfeiture laws. In less than 24-hours gun owners expressed concern those words “premises containing illegal weapons” would open the door for DOJ to criminally and civilly forfeit gun owners’ homes since most gun owners kept guns at home. Had that legislation passed, it is foreseeable Americans would be afraid to own guns or keep them in their house.
In 1994, a Congressman suggested forcing gun stores to sell only “biodegradable ammunition” with a 1-year shelf-life stating—in case of insurrection, ammunition accumulated by people would become useless within 1-year. Then someone pointed out, forcing biodegradable ammunition on the public would open the door for foreign black-market ammunition to be sold in the U.S. Obviously if Obama’s ban on lead bullets is approved, foreign black markets will develop in the U.S. for lead bullets; that will lead to police swat raids on homes for illegal bullets just like drug raids now out of control. It is foreseeable anyone caught with possession of lead bullets could lose their right to own a gun. Bullets made of any other metal could prove too expensive for most gun owners to purchase. It is obvious Obama by the backdoor—intends to disarm America taking Americans’ ammunition away.
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