Sample Letter

Dear Congressman / Senator:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering banning all traditional ammunition -- ammunition containing lead-core components. This is something that would affect all hunters, target shooters and law enforcement.

A petition filed with the EPA by several agenda-driven groups including the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), erroneously claims that the use of traditional ammunition poses a danger to (1) wildlife, in particular raptors such as bald eagles, that may feed on entrails or unrecovered game left in the field and (2) that there is a human health risk from consuming game harvested using traditional ammunition. Also falsely alleged in the petition is that the use of traditional ammunition by hunters is inconsistent with the Toxic Substance Control Act of 1976, Congress expressly exempted ammunition from being regulated as a "toxic substance."

As your constituent, I am urging you to do whatever you can to stop the EPA, which has no jurisdiction over such matters, from banning our ammunition. Please consider the following points:

• There is no scientific evidence that the use of traditional ammunition is having an adverse impact on wildlife populations.

• Wildlife management is the proper jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and the 50 state wildlife agencies.

• A 2008 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on blood lead levels of North Dakota hunters confirmed that consuming game harvested with traditional ammunition does not pose a human health risk.

• A ban on traditional ammunition would have a negative impact on wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding. The bald eagle's recovery, considered to be a great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition - the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing.

• Recent statistics from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service show that from 1981 to 2006 the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles in the United States increased 724 percent. And much like the bald eagle, raptor populations throughout the United States are soaring.

Thank you for your time. I will be watching your actions on this matter closely.