Lead sinkers under ½ ounce are banned in New York State now. More states are considering it. I agree that the lead issue is a backdoor way to gun control, I agree that there is no real science behind it, (By the way, the way I read the California lead ban, lead shotgun pellets are banned in the condor areas.) It is coming and we may or may not be able to stop it.
These issues are a symptom, not the disease. The problem is that we are losing rod and gun outdoorsmen every year and not recruiting. You can’t blame the NRA unless you are in the NRA and trying to influence its direction. Anyone who thinks we would be better off if there had never been an NRA is an idiot who knows nothing about the history of gun control legislation as far as I’m concerned. (Remember registering for shotgun shells?)
The problem is that most of us would rather sit at our computers and rag each other trying to sound like experts, when we could be taking the neighbor kid fishing, shooting, or hunting. As you read this many of you are coming up with excuses about why that’s not possible.
I’m writing about this stuff all the time now and I go on the boards to find out what’s going on. Everyone gripes, but most of us won’t even email a letter. When I was volunteer field staff for NRA it was the same thing except there is some effort in writing a snail mail letter. To email a congressman is no harder than posting on this board, how many of you have emailed your congressman, or the NRA to express your opinions lately?
Yes, we probably will lose lead shot and bullets to junk environmentalism, but the real reason will not be that the fringe environmentalists beat us, it will be because we were too lazy to mentor young people in our passions and because we sat on our butts and whined to each other while it happened instead of getting involved in the organizations that were formed to give us a voice.
Sorry if I’ve hurt your feelings, but I’ve been writing on a closure of a fishing area (Hatteras NC, Piping Plover, 4 plover chicks shutting down the economies of 7 small towns) and the fishermen are wringing their hands and sniping at each other instead of getting involved in a real way, too.
There, I still like all of you, but I got it off my chest.
