Dear EPA~ We Opposed the proposed lead ban

Well CRAP at least I sent my letter out LOL
EPA rejects antis claim.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/27/epa-rejects-calls-ban-lead-ammo-fishing-tackle/


Lisa P. Jackson
Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460
(202) 564-4700
Fax: (202) 501-1450
Email: jackson.lisa@epa

Re: EPA-HQ-OPPT-2010-0681 Lead ban for sporting use.

Ms. Jackson,

Any ban on “lead” ammunition will totally devastate the antique as well as the entire shooting community. Traditional firearms such as muzzle loaders, Civil War, antique cartridge relic’s & reproductions are designed to shoot lead bullets only, with no alloy jacket. A muzzleloader bullet or Roundball is designed to have a cloth patch wrapped around it which enables the bullet to engage the rifling in the bore to create spin.
The smoothbore musket has no rifling and a patch and sometimes a wad are used in combination.

A rifled Civil War era firearm shoots a plain conical bullet with a grease lubricant. The lubricant like the patch keeps the lead from stripping off into the rifling. I.E. like oil in your vehicle lubricates a bearing by creating a barrier between the two surfaces.

Some later variations of cartridge rifles use a paper patch as the barrier between the bullet and the bore. The purpose of soft lead and patching are designed to seal the burning gun powder gasses behind the projectile.
The soft lead, (as close to pure as we can get); help make this all possible.

While modern cartridge firearms may be able to shoot an alloy style bullet if available & practical, the original and reproduction muskets & rifles can not.
There is “not” a replacement metal for this portion of the shooting community as the petitioner’s state.

The shooting community by large has engaged the EPA’s “best management range practices” when and where ever possible by recycling spend lead and brass, cleaning up ranges and testing & treating soils.

The shooting community according to industry uses only a mere fraction of the lead produced.
In fact industry figures show that the sources and uses of lead in the United States to be 3.5 billion pounds smelted annually. Of that approximately 85 million pounds is used in bullet manufacturing which is 2.5 to 3% of the total lead produced. I’d like to remind the EPA that much of this ammunition is to support our military and is being expended in other countries as I write this letter.
Also a majority of states have already adopted lead fishing sinker limitations.
Lead acid batteries are the largest product of lead use.


I am 54 years old and have been shooting since the age of 5. I have reloaded, cast and fired ammunition on a weekly basis for most of those years. I am also a HVAC technician and a licenser power plant operator. I can say with utmost confidence that I’ve been exposed to more than my share of lead particles. In 2000 I had my blood checked and all toxic blood levels were well below the EPA & CDC standards. My physical this year also verified my blood levels were again below published thresholds.
My 3 adult children have not had any positive lead indications either. Many of my friends, some 30 years my senior have had no ill effects based on lead used.
• A 2008 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on blood lead levels of North Dakota hunters confirmed that consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition does not pose a human health risk.

With all I mentioned above our conclusion is to ask the EPA to throw out the proposed ban on all lead ammunitions and fishing lead products.


From my past experiences with the Center for Biological Diversity they are underhanded and self serving. There proposal is designed to out law lead & ammunition in an effort to ban shooting, hunting & fishing.

The religious philosophies of those who have signed on to the lead ban petition are animal right zealots who will stop at nothing to ban all the above mentioned legal activities. The agenda of the CBD will devastate the shooting community by shutting many, if not all of us down.

Financially the taxes derived from the shooting activities above will also impact the Federal and State wildlife programs. The state and Federal wildlife programs directly benefit from taxes collected on sporting ammunition & products. To the best of my knowledge the Center for Biological Diversity & there co-sponsors never donated a dime to actually help wildlife. Instead they run around the country suing the government in an effort to ban hunting, fishing, shooting & trapping.

My fellow members & I take it very personal when someone is out to end our lifestyle. We don’t collect a paycheck like the opposition does.

Again, we ask the EPA to throw out the proposed ban on all lead ammunitions and fishing lead products. There is “not” a replacement metal for this portion of the shooting community as the petitioner’s state.
We oppose the proposal to ban all lead in ammunition and fishing tackle as alternatives are not yet available to all shooting & fishing sports.


Regards,
Wm. J. Brookover
5336 Lincoln Rd
Ontario, NY. 14519
President
New York State Muzzleloaders Association
WWW.NYSMLA.ORG
blackpowderbill@yahoo.com

Here is a link to the EPA's web site Lead Ban