[TheRealThing]

ARTICLE EXCERPT---
"About 145 employees of the Doe Run lead smelter [in Herculaneum, Missouri] learned they will lose their jobs at the end of December because of the plant’s closure, the Doe Run Co. said Wednesday. An additional 73 contractor jobs also will be eliminated.

The job cuts were expected. The plant, which has operated for more than a century and is the lone remaining lead smelter in the United States, announced in 2010 that it will cease operations at the end of this year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the company “made a business decision” to shut down the smelter instead of installing pollution control technologies needed to reduce sulfur dioxide and lead emissions as required by the Clean Air Act."
END EXCERPT---

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/con...production



One way or another, if we keep putting these bozos in office, the liberals will disarm you. I am holding out hope that something can yet be done to allow us to enjoy our second amendment rights as guaranteed in the US Constitution. They tried to get the EPA to ban lead bullets on the grounds that they would poison the environment, then they tried to use the United Nations to declare guns illegal by global standards, (the idea of American sovereignty wasn't quite that dead yet) both were defeated in court. So next best thing was to take a page out the 'war on coal' book which, simply regulated the industry that uses coal to make electricity out of business. Now they have done the very same thing by regulating lead smelting to the extent that it is now just too expensive to meet the impossible clean air standards, thereby eliminating ammunition. Lesson learned!

I might need some remedial tutoring here. Could one of you die hard Democratic supporters remind me again why it is that these "Hope, Change and fundamental transformation" snake oil salesmen are all the rage? :igiveup:

[vundy33]

This has really screwed me. I love target shooting, and hasn't in a while because I can't even have some of the firearms and magazines I own where I live in Virginia. I was stunned when I went to look for ammo yesterday in Pikeville, and couldn't find any ANYWHERE. I was looking for 5.56 (or 223) and .22, all I found after visiting 5 stores, including Walmart, was just one box of 556 which was priced at $40, crazy high.

Thankfully I bought ammo in bulk for the other firearms I have of different caliber, but the ones I prefer target shooting with are my .22 plinker and AR, which I course I can't find any ammo for. I just like to try to hit targets out past the AR's effective range, that's it. I'm not a risk of hurting anyone, and definitely not with any type of weapon. This is just absolutely ridiculous.

I don't target shoot with my pistols often, but I've found it even harder to find ammo for them. I have a .22 I target shoot with (the .22 has always been cheaper than most other rounds, that's why I have two plinkers, I obviously didn't see ammo getting so expensive lol). I also have a .40 I just keep at home, only fire a couple times a year. I'm kind of glad I ran out of ammo when I did, had no idea it had gotten this bad. They are ALL much more expensive than they used to be.

Looks like I'm going to have to start reloading my own...smh.

[TheRealThing]

This has really screwed me. I love target shooting, and hasn't in a while because I can't even have some of the firearms and magazines I own where I live in Virginia. I was stunned when I went to look for ammo yesterday in Pikeville, and couldn't find any ANYWHERE. I was looking for 5.56 (or 223) and .22, all I found after visiting 5 stores, including Walmart, was just one box of 556 which was priced at $40, crazy high.

Thankfully I bought ammo in bulk for the other firearms I have of different caliber, but the ones I prefer target shooting with are my .22 plinker and AR, which I course I can't find any ammo for. I just like to try to hit targets out past the AR's effective range, that's it. I'm not a risk of hurting anyone, and definitely not with any type of weapon. This is just absolutely ridiculous.

I don't target shoot with my pistols often, but I've found it even harder to find ammo for them. I have a .22 I target shoot with (the .22 has always been cheaper than most other rounds, that's why I have two plinkers, I obviously didn't see ammo getting so expensive lol). I also have a .40 I just keep at home, only fire a couple times a year. I'm kind of glad I ran out of ammo when I did, had no idea it had gotten this bad. They are ALL much more expensive than they used to be.

Looks like I'm going to have to start reloading my own...smh.

Yeah, I thought the same thing. You gonna melt down your own slugs?

I've never reloaded any ammo but, it looks like that will be happening in the very near future. I'm wondering if skeet shooting, rabbit and bird hunting will even be able to continue for many folks who have older guns or use chokes. I'm going to have to spend some time schooling up on whether it's okay to use steel shot in my own guns. This is ridiculous, has nothing to do with the harmful effects of lead and everything to do with gun control.

This whole deal seems to fly in the face of logic. We use lead in far more items than ammo. Batteries, lead shielding for everything from nuclear reactors to x-ray and CT Scan rooms. The list is long.

[vundy33]

Yeah, I thought the same thing. You gonna melt down your own slugs?

I've never reloaded any ammo but, it looks like that will be happening in the very near future. I'm wondering if skeet shooting, rabbit and bird hunting will even be able to continue for many folks who have older guns or use chokes. I'm going to have to spend some time schooling up on whether it's okay to use steel shot in my own guns. This is ridiculous, has nothing to do with the harmful effects of lead and everything to do with gun control.

This whole deal seems to fly in the face of logic. We use lead in far more items than ammo. Batteries, lead shielding for everything from nuclear reactors to x-ray and CT Scan rooms. The list is long.

Honestly brother, I have no idea what I'm going to do. I don't know how to do any of that really besides watching others reload their own.

I've been saving up for a trip to Europe next summer, and I'm betting that buying the equipment to make my own ammonia will take a big chunk out of that. The trip means a lot to me, I plan on seeing where my family comes from in Wales and Scotland, visit friends in Germany and Poland, and hopefully visiting Spain...as well as introducing all of the beautiful ladies of these countries to the "American Special" (me), hahaha. But I know I'll end up spending thousands on ammo over the next few years if I don't look into making my own.

This is such an unnecessary thing, just one more thing for myself and many others to worry about. That's why I'm so mad about it, so needless!

[TheRealThing]

Honestly brother, I have no idea what I'm going to do. I don't know how to do any of that really besides watching others reload their own.

I've been saving up for a trip to Europe next summer, and I'm betting that buying the equipment to make my own ammonia will take a big chunk out of that. The trip means a lot to me, I plan on seeing where my family comes from in Wales and Scotland, visit friends in Germany and Poland, and hopefully visiting Spain...as well as introducing all of the beautiful ladies of these countries to the "American Special" (me), hahaha. But I know I'll end up spending thousands on ammo over the next few years if I don't look into making my own.

This is such an unnecessary thing, just one more thing for myself and many others to worry about. That's why I'm so mad about it, so needless!

Yeah, and all due to the good ol (liberal) EPA. My worry is how you'd get the lead smooth and regular enough to make it work in a semi auto mechanism. Ammo has gotten so good in our time we have tended to take it for granted. Smaller caliber weapons are routinely good enough to do the job these days because of how reliable and effect the ammo has become.

[hawg laig]

I can't find 22LRs for any price short of a fortune. I did pick up a 500 round box of .223's at Sportsman Warehouse in Lexington about a month ago. What is up with 22's? Why so scarce? 380's and 45's are pretty easy to find now but the whole 22 thing puzzles me.

[geauxtigers75]

.22, .223, 9mm, and just regular 12 gauge shells have became rare as hell to find any more it seems, and when you do find the stuff, it's grossly overpriced. It's all a big crock of shit with Washington Lunatics calling the shots.

[TheRealThing]

"On Tuesday, December 23 (2014) Judge David Tatel of the District of Columbia’s Circuit Court of Appeals rejected another attempt to force the EPA to regulate bullets and shotgun shells out of existence."
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/con...-289784321


I wonder how many gun owners actually understand what is going on right now? Overlooking the obvious double speak I have cited above, in which it is suggested that the EPA is in any way "being forced" to regulate bullets out of existence. Two years is a long time, and that consequently, is how much longer the Obama tenure has left for liberals to get busy and pass regulations which would effectively legislate gun control through the courts. All that must happen for Americans to lose their 2nd Amendment right to own and bear arms, is for them to get a munitions case in front of the right judge. And just in case you may have missed it, they suit wasn't testing the legality of ammo for AR's. They were going for shotgun shells as well as all kinds of bullets. It's only a question of time, within two years in this case, until they make this happen. What good are guns when ammo is illegal? BTW, how many judges will be appointed during the next two years remains to be seen.

I realize there would be appeals, but pending the appeal process, and if a judge decrees ammo to be a threat to the environment, authorities could easily make manufacture and sales illegal. And although liberals will not have slammed the door on gun ownership in the manner they would like, when bullets become illegal, they will still have reason to party hearty. Like I've been saying, they will use the law to run over the law.

[Granny Bear]

Hmmmm....well, I have plenty of ammunition for the guns that we own. BUT, if it ever does come to push and shove, there is a little flea market down US 119 a couple of miles from my home. It meets every Saturday, and has become so popular that some folks will actually spend Friday night there in order to get a good selling spot.

About 5:30 a.m. every Saturday, a bunch of men gather on the south end. You can't miss 'em!!! They are normally 55+ years of age, and sit around whittling and telling stories. You can get the best bargain from these gentlemen on just about any gun that's worth owning!!

You'll hear some pretty interesting stories too.....if you can sit a spell!

[Stardust]

In any case, the bottom line for consumers is that ammunition producers do not expect the smelter's closure to lead to any imminent impact on the price or availability of lead ammunition components. While many factors can affect the market for ammunition, this particular facility's closure should not have the dramatic impact that some have predicted.

http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articl...elter.aspx

[TheRealThing]

When I first posted the thread, I was worried that the lead smelters air pollution standards imposed under the administration would lead to more ammunition shortages. According to the article cited in the thread starter, during November of 2013, "Secretary of State John Kerry signed the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) “on behalf of President Barack Obama and the people of the United States.” "Article 3 of that agreement outlaws the buying, selling, trading, or transferring by civilians of all “ammunition/munitions fired, launched or delivered by the conventional arms.”

According to the article, under yet another multinational agreement, the "Trans-Pacific Partnership", the eventual trickle down aggregate of lead production being outlawed in the US, would be that of our eventual reliance on China (of all people) for the lead necessary to make ammunition.

However none of that would make any difference in the US, if the EPA can reclassify and thusly regulate lead bullets as a hazardous substance. It's amazing that they might be able to classify a naturally occurring metal that has to be mined out of the ground as a threat to the environment.

Both articles were written within 30 days of each other. Hopefully, the NRA-ILA article is right.