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AB 1002
"Non-lead Ammunition"
Author: Pedro Nava (D)
Status: Assembly - Died
Description:
Issue: Banning lead ammunition
AB 1002
Author: Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D)
Title: Lead Ammunition Ban
Description: Bans all lead ammunition
Status: Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee Hearing date April 26, 2005
GOC Position: OPPOSE
Banning Lead Ammunition in California!
"Proponants of the lead ammo ban are ignoring science and common sense. Instead they are turning the California Condor into the 'new' spotted owl, using it as another excuse to keep hunters and shooters out of the fields, forests, and deserts," said Sam Paredes, Executive Director of Gun Owners of California.
Assembly newcomer, Pedro Nava, has been selected to carry the latest bill to thwart gun owners in California, and creates a new crime at the same time.
AB 1002 began as a measure that addressed technicalities in the portion of law having to do with policy of the state in preservation, conservation and maintenance of wildlife.
The language of the bill was changed on April 7, 2005 to address instead the issue of protecting the California Condor by banning all lead ammunition.
Nava's measure prohibits the possession of any ammunition that contains lead. It mandates the Fish and Game Commission to establish a scheduled phase-in requirement for the use of non-lead ammunition. This includes all bullets and shot for all hunting within California. The phase-in is to be complete by January 1, 2009. Additionally, the commission will establish a public process to certify ammunition as not containing lead as well as defining non-lead ammunition.
California State Fish and Game Commission rejected two proposals to ban lead ammunition last February 4, 2005 in San Diego. The Commission expressed skepticism of studies claiming that California Condors are in danger of extinction by lead poisoning. The Commission also noted that lead is found in other areas such as oil fields, so it is difficult to show that lead from bullets is the primary source of poisoning the large birds.
The Center for Biological Diversity led the environmental groups that requested the Commission to call for an emergency ban of lead ammo in the areas inhabited by the Condors. The Center's hope is that lead bullets will be banned statewide.
Condors are scavengers, eating the flesh of animals left behind from another animal's kill. Supporters of the ban say lead bullets remain in animals shot by hunters and are ingested by the Condors. Unconvincing studies and anemic science undermine credibility of the advocates for the wild vultures.
Condor population diminished markedly until the mid 1980's when steps were taken to restore the numbers of birds. The restoration of the Condor population succeeded and in 1992 Condors were reintroduced into the wild.
Nine Condors are listed as having died from lead poisoning since 1997. It is notable that 8 of them were in Arizona.... Arizona has a lead ban on bullets in Condor territory.
Condor territory stretches from the Bay area to Los Angeles to the Sierra Nevada mountains in Tulare County.
Controversy surrounds the suggestion of using alternative types of bullets. Copper bullets are manufactured. They are costly and do not preform very well. A copper bullet does not fly as true, and when hitting an animal goes clean through rather than expanding within and causing death. The animal is more likely to be wounded and run off to die in another area preventing the hunter from retrieving the carcass. Alternate metal bullets are untested and won't work in many guns. Tin, Bismuth and Tungsten bullets are made for shotguns.
Although too early for much official data, it is believed that success in protecting the large vultures has been at least somewhat achieved by a cooperative effort and a volunteer program called Project Gutpile. Ammunition manufacturers, conservation groups along with hunters worked together in 2003 to educate the public to the dangers condors are exposed to and to encourage hunters to remove any lead from the remains of a dead animal. Additionally, the Condor Recovery Program developed a feeding program. Carcasses are made available to the condors in their territory which are of course, lead free. Consequently, no condors in California have died from poisoning by lead for over a year.
Gun Owners of California believes the radical step of banning all lead bullets will be highly impactive in a negative way to hunters and ultimately to the state. Rather, hunters themselves can take careful measures to bury the remains out of reach from other carrion eating creatures and birds. There is nothing to suggest that lead bullets are the sole source of the poisoning of the vultures.
Posted 4/21/2005
More information: Assemblyman Pedro Nava
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