Today I am infuriated as a hunter, not only as a bowhunter, but a hunter because the anti’s and the government are one step closer to ending hunting altogether in California. Yesterday, AB 711 passed in the California State Assembly by a vote of 44-21. What is AB 711? The Bill is to end all use of lead ammunition in ALL (yes ALL) of California. No bird shot (which has been like this for a while), no slugs, no BULLETS in any way, shape or form.The bill was co-written by a Democrat from Lakewood, CA – Assemblyman Anthony Rendon. It now heads to the Senate floor.
They say it is easy for hunters to make the switch to non-lead ammo. Really? Is the CA state government going to start handing us vouchers for discounts on copper bullets? Not a chance. I think the gov’t fails to have any foresight here. Think about this; if we can’t afford to buy non-lead ammo, ammo sales will drop leading to hunting license sales dropping and pretty soon there will a huge loss of revenue for our CA gov’t. Yeah, I am going to go out on a limb and say the Assembly is disillusioned and has blinders on as they are not thinking of the ramifications of this bill. Am I sounding off in the extreme? I don’t think so. I am also a proponent of hunting. PERIOD. I continually encourage people to get out and hunt and enjoy the outdoors. Our government is trying to take that way from us.
You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of PROHIBITION. We all remember how that played out. Bottoms up!
Watch this video from HuntForTruth.org and listen to the Game Commission heads who were against it. Listen to the scientists who dismiss the ‘evidence’ because it isn’t substantiated because there is no evidence that says lead bullets are THE main cause to blame.
My brothers and sisters in California, this is an attack on hunting. They outlawed hunting with lead ammunition in the ‘Condor Zone’ because they said the condors were getting poisoned from lead bullets. While that may be true, the condors are STILL GETTING SICK and it isn’t strictly from lead bullets or fragments. How about them eating lead paint or getting it naturally in the environment? There are plenty of other ways they can get sick. It’s a smoke screen and a myth if you think the condors are getting sick STRICTLY from lead bullets. Where is the evidence of this in other states? Nowhere. Why? The HSUS and other anti-hunting organizations are targeting California because it’s easier for them to get the easily-swayed government officials to change their minds and not get into any confrontation. They are using negative, fabricated media to sway them. We Californians need to band together and fight this with everything we have!!
Phillip Loughlin, who authors The Hog Blog and is an avid hunter, has been posting about the lead ammo issues for years. His latest post on the issue was on May 4th and he makes some great points:
Why wasn’t this risk assessed before the first condor was released back into the wild? Why wasn’t this dialogue started, on a wide scale, before there were a bunch of zoo-bred birds flying around CA and AZ, dining on hunters’ deer, pig, and elk carcasses?
If I were planning to implement a program on federal land, I’d have to develop and complete a study on the program’s impacts to the environment. I’d have to know what flora and fauna my activities might put at risk, and I might have to mitigate those risks. If my activity impacted an endangered or threatened species, I’d have to jump through a series of additional, exhaustive processes and procedures to mitgate that impact or my project would have to be cancelled. With this in mind, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that, before releasing an endangered or threatened species into the wild ecosystem, a similar set of studies and reports should also be completed, and risks addressed and mitigated before the project goes forward… especially considering that the species is being released right back into the same habitat conditions that nearly brought it to extinction in the first place.
Here are some other great points made by Robert Faraga at The Truth About Guns – AB 711 Could Kill Hunting in California. They are spot on and must be read!
A couple years ago, my friend Bill Howard wrote about the EPA going after lead ammo. It was written two (2) years ago.He makes some great points and even discusses the rising cost of ammo for everyday hunters and new hunters.
“Shotshells would not be the only ammunition regulated either. Most hunting cartridges consist of a lead projectile. A young hunter’s first rifle is often a .22 caliber. Ammunition is cheap, so the youth can become familiar with the operation of the rifle by shooting many times. A box of 100 .22 cartridges runs approximately $7.50. Changing the composition of the bullet could increase the cost by 4 times that amount. Again, the increase would likely eliminate many new hunter’s first excursion, or at least repeated excursions into the outdoors.”
The CA government thinks it will be easy for hunters to make the switch to non-lead ammo. Easy for whom? Copper bullets are expensive as hell!! You can’t just go out and sight in your rifle without watching it squeeze blood out of your wallet. Have they tried buying shotgun ammo lately? Plus, have you tried to find any ammo these days? It’s damn near impossible to locate it just to target practice… and that is expensive, too!
We ALL need to write our state Assembly, Senators and fight! We MUST do this! You can search for your local representatives here. Scroll down to ‘My Elected Officials‘. We need to flood them with phone calls, emails and letters and stand strong. If there was ever a time to fight for your rights as hunters it is NOW! Please write, call and let them know that you oppose this ban with heart and soul.
Oh, and today is Endangered Species Day. What an interesting thought as pretty soon hunters are going to be the endangered species in California.
Be First to Comment