As announced in a recent fundraising letter to its members, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) will launch a “once-in-a-lifetime campaign” this summer to “ban all lead bullets everywhere in the United States.”  Make no mistake, hunters and shooters are in the crosshairs of this extremist group.

With regard to issues pertaining to wildlife and the environment, the NRA focuses on science when formulating its decisions and policies, not politics and emotion.  We would all be better off if CBD did the same.  With no scientific justification for a lead ban, CBD’s campaign is a deceptive attack on hunting.  Radical environmental groups like the CBD have already contributed to declining hunter numbers by helping to eliminate access to vast public hunting lands.  A complete lead ban would exacerbate this decline by mandating expensive non-traditional ammunition.  Hunting should not be an activity limited to the wealthy; every hunter is essential to sustaining our great American sporting heritage.

Similarly, the recreational shooting that allows gun owners to hone skills and exercise their Second Amendment rights would be dramatically curtailed due to cost increases.  The boxes of .22 long rifle, 9mm and .30-06 that families have shot for generations during trips to the range, the back 40 or at public shooting areas will be priced beyond reach for most.

Hunters and gun owners have been the greatest contributors to conservation for nearly a century.  In addition to volunteer efforts to improve habitat, billions of dollars dedicated to habitat and wildlife restoration projects have been generated through the payment of hunting license fees and excise taxes on firearms, ammunition and other hunting equipment.  At a time when jobs are badly needed, hunting generates billions of dollars of economic activity and more than one million jobs in the United States.  To attack hunters and gun owners in this deceptive manner will be detrimental to the economy and the wildlife CBD claims to seek to help. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has adopted lead management practices that “have been proven to effectively reduce lead contamination” at shooting ranges and has never called for restrictions on the use of lead ammunition.  Some non-traditional ammunition has even been found to raise new concerns.  If the campaign to ban traditional ammunition is successful, rest assured that the radical environmentalists will soon initiate a plan to ban the “next best thing.”

In its over-the-top fundraising plea to its members, CBD states, “The NRA will spend $100 for every dollar we spend.  It will pull out all the stops against us.”  What the elitists in the CBD do not understand is that NRA’s power comes from its millions of members who will take action to preserve the use of traditional ammunition for current and future generations.  Indeed, we will pull out all of the stops because this fight is too important to lose.

Please be sure to educate your friends, family, fellow sportsmen and elected officials about these types of attacks and the radical groups behind them.