California: Contact Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee NOW to Preserve Traditional Ammunition and California’s Hunting Heritage

Assembly Bill 711, Assembly Bill 48 and Assembly Bill 169 are on the suspense file of the state Senate Appropriations Committee.  These bills are scheduled to be heard TOMORROW, August 30, so it is CRITICAL that you express your opposition during this final stretch of the legislative session in Sacramento.

To preserve California’s rich hunting heritage, recreational shooters, sportsmen and gun owners MUST contact members of the state Senate Appropriations Committee and respectfully urge them to oppose AB 711.  Please forward this alert to your family, friends, fellow gun owners and sportsmen throughout California and ask them to do the same.  Contact information for Committee members is provided below.

Assembly Bill 711 would make California the first state in the nation to prohibit the use of all lead ammunition for hunting.  Extensive research has shown that traditional lead ammunition does NOT pose a health hazard for hunters and California condors.  Please communicate the following facts to members of the state Senate Appropriations Committee as reasons to OPPOSE AB 711:

• Federal and state health department studies have concluded that lead ammunition is not a human health risk, and a recently released peer reviewed study out of Sweden indicates that there is no human health risk to people who consume wild game harvested with lead ammunition.
• Despite 99% hunter compliance, the AB 821 lead ammunition ban has failed to reduce lead poisoning in condors.
• AB 711 fails to address the alternative sources of lead in the environment that are poisoning condors and other wildlife.

Even if one is not a hunter, recreational shooter or gun owner, those who enjoy nature by bird-watching, hiking or camping benefit from hunting excise tax dollars through the Pittman-Robertson Act.  According to the California Department of Finance, AB 711 could cost California $34 MILLION in lost revenue and federal funding, not the $45,000 claimed by lead ammunition ban advocates.  That is only the tip of the iceberg.  The state Department of Finance figure does not include loss of jobs, reduction in taxes from decreasing hunting-related expenditures or the likely increase in cost to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to hire more wardens to enforce the lead ammunition ban.
 
Lead ammunition ban advocates will not stop until all traditional ammunition and hunting is banned across the United States.  The President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle, have been quoted as saying: “We are going to use the ballot box and the democratic process to stop all hunting in the United States.  We will take it species by species until all hunting is stopped in California.  Then we will take it state by state.”  Californians CANNOT afford to let this happen!  You must contact members of the state Senate Appropriations Committee TODAY!

Also be sure to check out HuntForTruth.org’s shocking new video opposing AB 711 and its recent hard-hitting rebuttal to AB 711 sponsor’s alleged “facts” sheet in support of the bill. This video and the rebuttal reveal the truth regarding lead ammunition, and expose the misinformation being spread by the lead ammunition ban proponents in their latest attack on hunters in their campaign to “get the lead out.”

Also, the following anti-gun bills are also scheduled to be heard in the state Senate Appropriations Committee TOMORROW.  When you call AND e-mail members of this committee to OPPOSE AB 711, also respectfully urge them to OPPOSE AB 48 and AB 169.

Assembly Bill 48 (Skinner) bans the sale of parts and repair kits capable of converting magazine capacity to greater than ten rounds. This bill would also require that any person who purchases 6,000 rounds of ammunition within a five day period be reported to local law enforcement. 

Assembly Bill 169 (Dickinson) bans the sale and transfer of all lawfully acquired firearms that were never, or are no longer, on the California roster of approved handguns.

Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee: 
 
Kevin de León (D-22), Chairman  
Phone: (916) 651-4022
Fax: (916) 327-8817
E-mail: [email protected]
 
Jerry Hill (D-13)
Phone: (916) 651-4013
Fax: (916) 324-0283
E-mail: [email protected]
 
Ricardo Lara (D-33)
Phone: (916) 651-4033
Fax: (916)-327-9113 
E-mail: [email protected]
 
Alex Padilla (D-20)
Phone:  (916) 651-4020
Fax:  (916) 324-6645
E-mail: [email protected]
 
Darrell Steinberg (D-6)
Phone:  (916) 651-4006
Fax:  (916) 323-2263
E-mail: [email protected]