The Obama administration, via the EPA, would like people to comment on its plan to ban lead in ammunition.
Will Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson make a back door move to ban lead bullets the day before the November 2 elections?
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.
Although the EPA could have dismissed the request due to a lack of jurisdiction, it is obliging CBD. The EPA has asked for public comment on banning lead in ammunition, and an EPA notice was published seeking public comment that closes on October 31.
Piss off gun owners right before the election? Give the NRA a real reason to attack you so it doesn't have to rely on the unfounded scare tactics it has had to make do with up to now? Good thinking!
The NRA has never been a friend of the Democratic Party, and it seems as though the Dems in Congress would rather chew the lead out of paint chips than pissed off the League of Old Cranky Gun Owners.
That said, it’s not exactly a bad idea. Lead is definitely up there in the list of toxic chemicals the EPA should be regulating. And I can definitely see a case for prohibiting the effective dumping of god knows how many tons of leaded ammo into water supplies and wildlife refuges. Might not be a terrible idea to at least investigate the degree of damage.
i don’t really disagree. but i can think of better times to step in front of that particular chain gun. like, maybe, immediately after the election, not immediately before it.
I agree the timing is off, but the Weekly Standard is leaping to make mountains out of molehills all the same. The EPA choose not to dismiss the issue out-of-hand. If “seeking public comment” for two months fails your litmus test on offensive actions against the NRA, then the EPA should just shut down until November 3rd because there’s no way in hell Ms Jackson can change a light bulb without igniting a full blown conservative shit storm.
The conservative rags have to bitch about something, after all. I’m sure Mr. McCormack spent days scouring the news for something to fit his beat. If it wasn’t this, it would be some puff piece on the assault weapons ban or a whine about how not enough guns are being allowed in state parks or some bullshit complaint about hunting season.