Lead and Guns

Increasingly the problem on lead and guns has been in the news.

Lead ammunition has been identified as a source of wildlife hazards as when predators eat game animals, and more recently human consumption of game animals donated to food banks has been identified as a source of lead poisoning in humans. The stories continue

• May 9, 2025. KAKE NEWS INVESTIGATES: Threat of lead contamination reaching Cheney Lake. "Dale Shockley says he's afraid the shooting range he used to run could be putting your drinking water in danger. He says he left his job as range master just to sound the alarm over what might be happening. 'I don't know, because there's no documentation. I don't know what to tell the EPA,' Shockley said during an Earth Day presentation at WSU's Rhatigan Center last month." 

• May 9, 2025. Recoil. R53.83: Been Shooting for a Few Years? Get Tested For Heavy Metals "I first met Tom in 2011 at the MGM Ironman 3-gun match, a legendary, high round count blast fest in the Idaho desert. We bullsh*tted between stages, hit it off, and the bromance continues to this day. At the time, he’d just returned from a deployment, and was 230 pounds of tattoos and hate, the archetypal Special Forces senior NCO who’d been blown up twice and shot once, recovering and returning to duty each time. Evidently, the only thing that could kill Tom … was Tom."

• November 28, 2024. North Coast Journal. Another 'Wake-up Call' "Editor: Great news about our North Coast California condor A9 again flying free following weeks of intensive medical treatment at the Sequoia Park Zoo due to a potentially lethal case of lead poisoning, though scary news about eight other condors with elevated lead levels during a recent exam ("Another Close Condor Call," Nov. 21). We can only hope this will be a wake-up call for North Coast hunters to stop using lead ammunition."

• Jul 15, 2024. Desert Review. CDPH advises about the dangers of lead exposure. "The California Department of Public Health in coordination with the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Branch released an informational on how to protect oneself and family from lead exposure. The release is broken down into three sections which begins with information about lead exposure and firearms. As hunting, outdoor target shooting, and indoor range shooting are common frequented in the valley, the importance of lead exposure safety is imperative. Using firearms has the potential of exposing people to dangerous levels of lead poisoning the release stated. For those that do spend time at a shooting range, with firearms, or handling ammunition, them or their family may be at risk of lead poisoning. As per CDPH Occupational Lead poisoning Prevention Program, persons using ammunition with lead primers or lead bullets are exposed to lead from the gun smoke that is released when the gun is fired."