(CA) Lead BAN! Hearing tomorrow!

[morganm01]

I just got an email from my local NRA chapter...."very urgent" about a lead ban in CA but with no real info in it....

...Here is all I have
=========

Gun Owners of California
> > 7996 California Street Ste. F
> > Fair Oaks, CA 95628
> > 916 967-4970 Fax 916 967-4974
> > www.gunownersca.com
> >
> > ALERT! to All Members:
> >
> > The Fish and Game Commission meets on Thursday,
> > February 3 in San
> > Diego. On the agenda is scheduled the Center for
> > Biological
> > Diversity's petition calling for a
> > statewide ban on lead ammunition!
> >
> > A statewide ban on lead ammunition will impact
> > negatively these listed
> > below: Law Enforcement - shooting range issues
> > Upland bird hunters - lead shot
> > Skeet and clays shooters - shooting range issues
> > Single Action/Cowboy Action fans-shooting range
> > issues
> > Big game hunters -
> > Varmint hunters
> > Varmint control personnel/Ranchers/Farmers
> > Muzzle-loader/black powder hunters
> >
> > Please attend this hearing as opposition to the
> > proposed ban. If you
> > can't attend then write or email. They need to
> hear
> > from you!
> >
> > Letters/Comments can be sent to:
> > Robert Treanor, Executive Director
> > California Fish & Game Commission
> > 1416 Ninth Street
> > Sacramento, CA 94244
> > 916 653-4899
> > Fax 916 653-5040
> > email: [email protected]
> > or [email protected]
> >
> > Meeting Location and Information!
> >
> > Hubbs Sea World Research Institute
> > Shedd Auditorium
> > 2595 Ingraham Street
> > San Diego, CA 92109
> > 619 226-3870

 

[R.H. Lee]

Crap. I don't want to have to start casting bullets again. But I will.

 

[Kruzr]

The last time I checked, this is about a ban on lead ammunition only in the breeding and feeding grounds of the California Condor.

Environmental activists want an emergency ban on lead bullets and shot used by hunters in Southern and Central California, or areas where the highly endangered California condor Gymnogyps californianus lives. The Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council believe that lead from bullets and shells in carcasses that condors eat is harming the carrion-eating birds. A petition made in December 2003 to the California Fish and Game Commission states, "Lead poisoning from lead ammunition is the single greatest threat to the health of California condors and is a significant threat to other imperiled wildlife species such as bald and golden eagles in California." The poisoning of bald eagles by lead shot was one of the factors that led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban its use for waterfowl hunting in 1991.

The anti-lead ammunition petition states it is not an anti-hunting proposal. Instead, it asks the Commission to ensure that lead-free ammunition is available, notify and educate hunters about the use of lead-free bullets and shot, and offer rebates to hunters who comply with the ban.

Condor recovery experts have monitored lead exposure in California condors since 1997. Five condors have died of lead poisoning since 1997: one in California, one in Utah, and three in Arizona. An additional 26 condors have received emergency treatment to reduce toxic lead levels. The source of lead has been identified in some cases as spent ammunition in the form of both shotgun pellets and fragments of rifle bullets.

The military is trying to develop a "green bullet," one that will be lead-free and not so damaging to the environment. Those following this issue say that when the military does develop its green bullet, the prices on lead-free ammunition will drop. But right now, the lead-free bullets are expensive and not readily available.

The California Fish and Game Commission is expected to look over the 40-page petition, do fact-checking, and make a decision at their next meeting in February 2005. The San Diego Zoo's department of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) and the Zoo's Wild Animal Park have been involved with California condor conservation and recovery efforts since 1981.

http://cres.sandiegozoo.org/about/news_041223_condor_lead.html

 

[R.H. Lee]

heh. We have condors visit and hang out on the hill where we live from time to time. The last time there were 3 of them, one got killed on a powerline. Split her open at the breastbone.

 

[crt360]

I thought those things were already extinct. All we have is buzzards and I suspect most of the early exiters are sent to the next life via auto bumpers/grills, not lead. Being of sufficient number, they don't get much love from anyone; especially disliked is the black vulture which has been known to kill living creatures (cows, calves, goats, etc.) for dinner. How much of California is Condor habitat?

 

[Standing Wolf]

The last time I checked, this is about a ban on lead ammunition only in the breeding and feeding grounds of the California Condor.

Until it's expanded, of course, "for the children," et cetera.

 

[Art Eatman]

The lead-banners' supposition is that hunters lose lots and lots of wounded deer and the condors find them and as they eat the carcass, they also swallow the bullet.

You really gotta be ignorant to believe that.

Ever watch a buzzard eat? They tear off little strips of meat. I'm dubious the strips would be big enough that the bullet wouldn't fall on the ground, much less be yummy-tasty to a buzzard.

It also presupposes the bullets always remain in these wounded and lost deer. That they never exit the animal...

Basically, it's just an anti-hunting deal, with nothing to do with scientific reality.

That's my opinion, anyway...

Art