Court rules the EPA cannot regulate lead ammunition

  When the Democrats failed to push cap and trade legislation through the Congress Barack Obama quipped “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” What he meant by this was it was time for the EPA to institute defacto cap and trade regulations thusly circumventing the Congress.

  The same can be said for gun control: environmental groups have been engaged in a type of backdoor gun control effort as they have been trying to get the EPA to regulate the use of lead in ammunition. What good is it to have weapons if you cannot purchase ammunition? If you are a member of a gun club there is the likelihood  you have felt this harassment firsthand.

  Now a Federal Court has ruled that the EPA cannot regulate the use of lead in ammunition. I have only seen this story reported at Bunkerville so a hat-tip is in order.

  Here is more:

A federal appeals court denied a lawsuit Tuesday by environmental groups that the EPA must use the Toxic Substances Control Act regulate lead used in shells and cartridges.

“We agree with EPA that it lacks statutory authority to regulate the type of spent bullets and shot identified in the environmental groups’ petition,” Judge David Tatel wrote for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Environmental groups had sued the agency to do so, saying spent lead ammunition posed an “unreasonable risk of injury” to wildlife and humans who would eat the animals they kill. The groups rejected the EPA’s assertion that it lacked the authority to do so.

  This is the second time a court has ruled against environmental groups:

Environmental groups were challenging an earlier dismissal by a lower court.

“No matter how one characterizes their claim — whether as an effort to regulate cartridges and shells (EPA’s view) or as an attempt to regulate the lead in bullets and shot (the environmental groups’ view) — their petition seeks the regulation of spent lead yet suggests no way in which EPA could regulate spent lead without also regulating cartridges and shells,” Tatel wrote

  While this is a nice win we must remember that this is a battle which will never end. These groups will not let this one setback slow them down, they will regroup and they will come back at us. We cannot let our guard down for one second.