Get the Lead Out

Finally! In a rare moment of sanity, the Environmental Protection Agency rejected a proposal by hysterical activists to ban lead in ammunition and fishing weights. It is difficult to imagine any proposal that would affect more Americans of every political persuasion than an assault on those who hunt and fish. Even those who suffer from absolute total political apathy would have been targeted by this insane proposal.

The usual complaint was registered that the spent lead in bullets and lost fishing weights was poisoning protected bird species. Among those 75 species cited was the classic symbol of America, the bald eagle which has enjoyed a near 700% increase in reported numbers of mating pairs over the past 25 years. The claim was that in excess of 87,000 tons of toxic lead had entered the environment per year from expended ammo and lost fishing tackle. Do the math and discover that amounts to roughly 9 ounces for every man, woman and child in the United States. The surprise here is that the figure is astonishingly low.

What saved the sportsmen on this issue turned out to be a “stream.” In this case it is a revenue stream. The EPA is required to keep its hands off whenever an excise tax which benefits the government is involved. Much of the sportsman’s equipment is subject to such levies and especially, ammunition.

It is possible that saner heads prevailed and suggested that messing with hunter's and fishermen's gear could possibly result in an even greater expenditure of lead bullets? If you get my drift.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon