New Federal Legislation Allows Traditional Ammo for Hunters

NSSF Praises New Federal Legislation Protecting Hunters and Anglers
NSSF, the Firearm Industry Trade Association, praises U.S. Sen. Steve Daines’ (R-Montana) introduction of new U.S. Senate bill S. 537, the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act. This federal legislation would prohibit the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) from banning the use of traditional lead ammunition and tackle absent approval by the applicable state fish and wildlife department and proof that lead ammunition and tackle is primarily causing a wildlife population decline. Similar legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Virginia) as H.R. 556.

“This legislation is tremendously important to protect the primary funding for wildlife conservation in America,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Sr. V.P. and General Counsel. “Firearm and ammunition manufacturers have paid over $29 billion, when adjusted for inflation, since 1937 and that has been the leading funding source of wildlife and habitat conservation in America. Efforts by bureaucrats to limit or eliminate the use of traditional lead ammunition and fishing tackle without scientific evidence puts those conservation funds at serious risk by increasing costs and creating barriers to participation in outdoor recreation.”

NSSF denounced the USFWS Final Rule it published in 2023 that offered sportsmen and women a “bait-and-switch” deal to open hunting and fishing opportunities on eight National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs), but banned the use of traditional lead ammunition and fishing tackle. The Final Rule offered no scientific evidence of detrimental population impacts to support banning the use of traditional ammunition, despite promises by the Biden administration to “follow the science.”

Firearm and ammunition manufacturers pay a 10 and 11 percent excise tax to the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund, commonly called the “Pittman-Robertson excise tax”.” The firearm and ammunition industry was directly responsible for $886.5 million Pittman-Robertson taxes of the $1.3 billion apportioned to the states through the USFWS for state conservation and education programs in 2024 alone. As adjusted for inflation, the firearm and ammunition industry has paid over $29 billion into the fund since its inception in 1937.

Photo courtesy Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF).