So, infighting and bickering and condemnation do none of us any good. A united front is the best way to show the world what shooters are about.
Just my .02.
The best united front for shooters is one that unites against unreasonable restrictions on lead. I have nothing against those restrictions--where they have a sound biological/environmental basis. (Like shooting into water or around marshes or wetlands. I have no problem switching to nontox when I hunt pheasants in such places, for example.) But if we don't take a stand against UNREASONABLE lead restrictions, we're allowing more and more of that camel--who already has not just his nose but most of his head--inside our tent. And we're making it easier to admit the entire animal, which would be an eventual total ban on lead shot.
We've already won some significant victories in this area. Thanks to Congress, the EPA cannot regulate lead in ammunition. Right there, that's the 800 pound gorilla off our backs. That leaves only the USFWS to deal with at the federal level. And because their charter runs only to what happens on federal land or to migratory species, they've largely already regulated everything they can regulate (except doves, which may well happen). And just this year, at the state level, Montana, Iowa, and South Dakota have rejected additonal requirements for nontoxic shot--which shows that if we pay sufficient attention and make sufficient noise to our politicians, further unreasonable bans on lead are not inevitable. Let's keep fighting!
