August 30, 2013
The National Rifle Association (NRA) (click here) is in the spotlight again, this time for its latest efforts to fight against a ban on lead ammunition in California. According to conservation groups, this ban will protect California condors and other wild animals from lead poisoning.
When hunters use lead ammunition and leave carcasses or gut piles that contain lead shot pellets or bullet fragments, scavengers who eat what’s left can end up with lead poisoning, causing sickness and death.
Assembly Bill 711 would ban lead ammunition in the state, in addition to providing non-lead bullets to hunters free or at a low cost. If it passes, California will be the first state to require a switch to non-lead alternatives, such as copper or bismuth.
While some hunters are supportive of the ban and are switching voluntarily, the NRA is fighting it and has launched huntfortruth.org, a website intended to debunk scientific studies concerning the adverse effects of lead ammunition on people and wildlife and has named a number of conservation organizations and zoos on its list of enemies.
The organization’s bigger fear seems to be that this is just another step in the fight to ban hunting altogether, even though supporters of the ban continuously point out that isn’t the case and that this is an issue about protecting wildlife. The NRA used the same anti-hunting argument when it fought the issue back in 1991 when the Environmental Protection Agency banned lead ammunition for hunting waterfowl, but the organization’s paranoia was as unfounded then as it is now....
