NRA TO AGAIN INTERVENE IN LAWSUIT SEEKING TO BAN LEAD AMMUNITION NATIONWIDE NRA WILL FIGHT TO PROTECT HUNTERS’ AND RECREATIONAL SHOOTERS’ RIGHTS

ON JULY 11, 2012. POSTED IN LATEST NEWS, LEGAL NEWS

Washington, D.C. – As part of NRA’s continuing efforts to protect hunters and recreational shooters from special interest groups seeking to restrict or eliminate hunting by banning the use of traditional ammunition consisting of lead components, the NRA will ask the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. to allow it to join in a newly filed lawsuit; The Trumpeter Swan Society, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, et al. The Complaint is posted here.

The Trumpeter Swan lawsuit, filed on June 7, 2012 by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and other lead ammunition ban proponents, alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is legally obligated to ban lead ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The lawsuit claims that wildlife, especially scavenging avian such as the California Condors, Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles are getting lead poisoning from eating lead bullet fragments in carrion left in the field by hunters.

CBD filed this lawsuit despite having its previous lawsuit, alleging the exact same claims, thrown out of court. Center for Biological Diversity v. Lisa P. Jackson, et al. NRA intervened on behalf of hunters in that previous lawsuit as well. The new lawsuit also comes after the EPA has twice denied CBD’s administrative petitions to ban lead ammunition. In denying those petitions, the EPA held that it does not have the authority to regulate ammunition under TSCA. The NRA previously helped defeat CBD and other lead ban proponents in another lawsuit attempting to implement a lead ammunition ban in the Arizona Strip. Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, et al. The NRA has consistently defended hunters and recreational shooters from well funded assaults on the use of traditional ammunition.

The NRA is the leader in the industry for debunking the “science” behind the theory that lead ammunition is responsible for lead poisoning in wildlife and humans. The NRA most recently defeated a proposed expansion of the lead ammunition ban in California, working with experts, researchers, and attorneys on proposed state hunting regulations predicated on the yet unproven nexus between hunters using lead ammunition and condor blood-lead levels. That success was due, in large part, to meticulous scientific reports prepared by scientists and experts working with the NRA that exposed the deficiencies in the faulty science. Based on NRA’s findings, one California Fish and Game Commissioner described the alleged theoretical link as “pseudo-science.”

In response to claims by groups seeking to ban the use of lead ammunition for hunting and recreational shooting, the NRA has been spearheading efforts to gather critical information and science to oppose most limitations on these activities. To assist in these efforts, NRA has engaged the expertise of environmental experts and scientists, as well as the civil rights and environmental law firm of Michel & Associates, P.C. The efforts include coordinating with interested parties to plan, research, conduct clerical work, and make numerous formal requests for documents from government agencies through Public Records Act and Freedom of Information Act requests. NRA’s team has obtained and analyzed tens of thousands of pages of public records concerning information relied on to propose and allegedly support lead ammunition bans for hunting and recreational shooting, including “original data” and internal documents not previously obtained or reviewed by independent analysts or the public at large.