The Goldilocks approach to ammunition bans
by Kurt Hofmann
There is a renewed push underway to compel the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ban lead bullets and shotgun pellets. The bans, of course, would not be universal: The ban sought by environmental groups would not apply to ammunition used by law enforcement and the military.
The lead in government bullets, apparently, is far too well behaved to poison anyone, as private citizens' lead would. That's a good thing, I suppose, given the fact that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has just ordered up to 450 million (lead-based) .40 caliber pistol rounds.
There are a good many reasons to object to the idea of banning lead ammunition for private use (including the fact that now we're being told that one component of "green" ammunition is itself likely to be carcinogenic), but today, we'll look at just one that might not be readily apparent. While the petition to pressure the EPA into banning lead ammo makes an exception for law enforcement and military, it does not seem to make provision for exempting handgun ammunition.
This is significant because under federal law, the composition of bullets used in handgun ammunition is already strictly controlled (with, again, exceptions for law enforcement and the military), in order to make it difficult for pesky private citizens to be able to shoot through the body armor their assailants/oppressors might be wearing
Add lead to the list of verboten bullet components, and what are private citizens left with to defend themselves--plastic bullets?
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-st-louis/the-goldilocks-approach-to-ammunition-bans
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