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April 12, 2011
Alert: Help Reaffirm Right of All Sportsmen to Shoot Ammunition of Their Choice
SUPPORT THE HUNTING, FISHING AND RECREATIONAL SHOOTING SPORTS PROTECTION ACT
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) — the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry — is encouraging all hunters, shooters and gun owners to contact their United States Senators and Representatives to urge them to become an original co-sponsor of the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Sports Protection Act, legislation that will clarify that Congress has not given the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to regulate ammunition and its components under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Currently, anti-hunting groups are trying to force the EPA to ban all traditional ammunition under TSCA. The legislation would also prevent the EPA from banning traditional fishing tackle.
This legislation is set to be introduced in both the Senate and House shortly by Senators Jon Tester (D-Montana) and John Thune (R-SD) and Representatives Jeff Miller (R-Fla.-1st) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.-4th), all of whom are the co-chairs of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus.
Please, call your Senators and Representative today!
Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
Background:
Last fall the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considered a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) – a leading anti-hunting organization – to ban all traditional ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, a law in which Congress expressly exempted ammunition from EPA oversight.
Though the EPA ultimately rejected the petition, a decision that is now being challenged in court by the CBD, the attack demonstrated the need to preserve and protect the rights of all sportsmen to choose their own ammunition and fishing tackle. This is why Senators Tester and Thune and Representatives Miller and Ross will introduce the Hunting, Fishing and Recreational Shooting Sports Protection Act.
It is important to note a ban on traditional ammunition will affect not only hunters and sportsmen but also law enforcement, military and target shooters who may never go afield. Passing an amendment that will necessarily lessen the military and law enforcement’s ability to train puts the safety and well-being of all Americans at risk.
Important Facts You Need to Know about Traditional Ammunition:
* There is no scientific evidence that the use of traditional ammunition is having an adverse impact on wildlife populations requiring a change in current regulation. Regulating the methods and implements for the taking of game is best managed by the wildlife biologists in the state fish and game agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, not the EPA.
* 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.
* A ban on traditional ammunition would have a negative impact on wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding. The bald eagle’s recovery, considered to be a great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition, the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing.
* Recent statistics from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service show that from 1981 to 2006 the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in the United States increased 724 percent. And much like the bald eagle, raptor populations throughout the United States are soaring.
Categories: Government Relations, Hunting, Industry News, Shooting, Top Stories
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