8 thoughts on “DCNR Goes Lead Free”

  1. Shucks, those “acute lead poisoning” jokes were fun while they lasted.

  2. Last time I checked, most non-lead bullets are significantly more expensive than bullets with a lead core. It’s nice to see (sic) that when our state is in the equivalent of a budgetary World War III, the DCNR somehow finds the extra money to buy lead-free bullets.

  3. I remember when we discussed this before, you assured me the dangers of lead contamination at shooting ranges is exaggerated. It seems these guys don’t agree with that. Are they wrong, are they over-reacting? Or, one day are we going to discover that the land surface of the Earth is spotted with blighted areas that can be seen from space, marking each outdoor shooting range forever?

  4. They are over reacting. The other problem is as the US Army found out, the lack of lethality of lead free ammo can be a big problem.

  5. Mike,

    You don’t think businesses, individuals, and government agencies do purely symbolic and useless things to be seen as “going green”? ;)

    My wife’s worked extensively for the state park service here in NJ–I can say with certainty that most of these kinds of measures are the pet idea of a bureaucrat who has little to no hands-on or scientific understanding of parks ecology, but knows (or thinks he knows) what’s playing well with popular sentiment at the moment. The actual rangers, foresters, and parks administrators basically have to play along, make the right noises at press conferences, and minimize the interference with their business as best they can.

    I’m not saying this policy shift is one-hundred-percent definitely just political silliness; I _am_ saying that it isn’t evidence of a scientific consensus on the danger of lead contamination from bullets, and it most certainly doesn’t mean that the rangers and foresters have any opinion at all about the matter.

  6. “I’m sure people on the receiving ends of the officer’s bullets will be happy to know they are being shot with non-toxic ammo.”

    Is it non-toxic? Last I checked most non-lead bullets were made with stuff like copper, tin, and tungsten, which are all VERY toxic.

    Also MikeB, care to reference how (apperently long closed) shooting ranges can be seen from space?

    This summer I was working at my club and I spent a whole day clearing brush from the outdoor ranges…..the brush is back now. I’d imagine if we packed up shop and left, the Massachusetts Rifle Association (Continuous use since 1875) would vanish from the map inside of 10 years.

  7. Besides practice shooting at the range, just how many times do DCNR folks discharge their weapons? When was the last time you heard of a park ranger in PA shooting something or someone?

    Considering the higher cost of the ammunition and the state’s apparent fiscal irresponsibility, this makes no sense whatsoever.

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