Obama's National Park Service declares ban on use of lead ammo and sinkers in national parks!

Editor's Note: We hate to have to say "we told you so" to the sportsmen who bought into the lie that Obama would protect their right to hunt and fish, but...we told you so.

The United States Sportsmen's Alliance is urging sportsmen nationwide to immediately contact their U.S. representatives and senators, and to "ask your congressman and two U.S. senators to urge the Obama Administration to stop the National Park Service from its plan to stop the use lead ammunition and fishing tackle on its lands."

The park service, which administers many lands that permit hunting and fishing, including National Preserves, National Recreation Areas and National Rivers, announced March 10 that it would ban lead ammunition and sinkers from its lands.

Acting NPS Director Dan Wenk stated that the NPS goal is to eliminate all lead in ammunition and tackle by the end of 2010.

Over 20 million acres of NPS land is open to hunting and would be adversely impacted by this decision.

"The National Park Service's decision is arbitrary, over-reactive and not based on science," said Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. "Studies show that traditional ammunition does not pose a health risk to humans, or wildlife populations as a whole."

This decision is described by USSA as a blatant anti-hunting move. The press release states "it is clearly designed to limit hunting by imposing high priced alternative products like tungsten, copper, and steel. It will reduce available conservation dollars as sportsmen reduce purchases of hunting and angling gear."

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the park service appears to have made its decision without requesting input from wildlife management and conservation groups, or ammunition manufacturers.

"There is no evidence of traditional ammunition harming humans or wildlife populations that would warrant this kind of drastic policy change," said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel.

The park service's news release does not cite scientific evidence that wildlife populations are being negatively impacted by the use of traditional ammunition, and there is no indication that park visitors' health was affected in any way by hunters and wildlife managers using traditional ammunition.

Ammunition containing lead components has been the choice of hunters for well over 100 years, during which time wildlife populations in America have surged. While lead ingestion appears to occur in a small number of individual animals, overall populations are unaffected. Also, there has never been a documented case of lead poisoning among humans who have eaten game taken with traditional ammunition, and a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on North Dakota hunters who consumed game confirmed that there was no reason for concern over eating game taken with traditional ammunition.

Unfortunately, the park service's decision to ban traditional ammunition adds to the misinformation being circulated by anti-hunting groups to promote fear among wildlife managers and hunters about traditional ammunition. The park service's news release makes erroneous comparisons between organic lead found in gasoline and the metallic lead used in ammunition. Banning lead in gasoline and paint was related to public health concerns because of the widespread nature of these substances and ingestion of paint chips by young children. These issues are not associated with lead in ammunition.

Take Action! Sportsmen are urged to contact their congressperson and their senators and tell them to ask the Obama Administration to oppose this measure. Tell them banning lead will destroy both part of America's heritage and reduce conservation dollars.