On Barack Obama’s last full day in office, his Fish and Wildlife Service issued an 11th-hour regulation that—without public input, open debate, congressional approval or anything else—unilaterally bans traditional lead ammunition and even lead fishing weights on federal lands.
Worse yet, it not only applies to traditional lead-containing bullets used to hunt deer and varmints, but also establishes a timeline for ending the use of lead shot for small game and upland bird hunting.
When the Obama administration tried to pull this stunt eight years ago, they were roundly rebuked by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. “The timing alone is suspect,” said Lawrence Keane of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “This directive was published without dialogue with industry, sportsmen and conservationists. The next director should immediately rescind this, and instead create policy based upon scientific evidence of population impacts with regard to the use of traditional ammunition.”
