The ban of lead on outdoor ranges is coming

Who are we?

We are LEX – Association for protection of firearms rights. For more than 20 years we work on civilian firearms legislation. We participate on legislative proposals on national and international level.

What's the problem?

European commission is preparing another wave of restrictions on lead ammunition. Among others, there's also proposal to ban use of lead-based bullets on outdoor ranges. The proposal is currently in preparation phase within European Chemical Agency (ECHA). Next phase is negotiations among stakeholders and national representatives in ECHA.

Link to information about proposal:

https://echa.europa.eu/cs/-/towards-sustainable-outdoor-shooting-and-fishing-echa-proposes-restrictions-on-lead-use

Ban on use of lead bullets on outdoor ranges can result in serious limitations on shooting sports, especially for dynamic disciplines like IPSC, which depend largely on outdoor ranges.

In the meantime, the fight in Europe against the ECHA’s Annex XV Restriction Report continues. The process is currently in the public consultation phase, with many WFSA European organizations submitting their contributions and carryout out several communications activities. The European Shooting Sports Forum (ESSF), which includes many WFSA members, has recently published this article on Euractiv. The article, which is currently being translated into other languages, highlights the main methodological flaws of the ECHA’s Environment and Human Health risk assessments included in its proposal to restrict the use and place on the market of lead ammunition in terrestrial habitats in the EU. More articles will follow in the coming months, focusing on further features of the ECHA proposal

Also our WFSA member, the Finnish Shooting Sport Federation (FSSF), in cooperation with the Finnish Hunters Association and the Finnish Wildlife Agency as well as few other organizations, has published this video to clarify to ECHA the different shooting sport disciplines, the different kinds of shooting ranges as well as several lead management methods and techniques and explain why their proposal is impossible.

What can you do?

Call on your shooting clubs, your national govenments and your Members of European Parliament and ask them for active and unified approach to this matter.

You and your organization can comment on the public consultation at the following link:

https://echa.europa.eu/restrictions-under-consideration/-/substance-rev/27801/term

National shooting associations may contact the WFSA or FACE and coordinate with them.

Since there's much misunderstanding, especially in foreign media, about meaning and purpose of recently proposed change of our Constitutional law, we feel appropriate to correct these misinterpretations. Is it a “terrorist hunting permit”?

Dear Mrs. Ford,

We received certain information that the Commission, S&D and Greens are strongly pressing on you to accept limitations which were agreed upon by Council, with reasoning that “something must be banned“. Some other shadow rapporteurs are allegedly willing to accepts those demands. We would like if you could pass our position on this matter to them.

It would appear that the last insidious attempt to disarm citizens comes from the EU. However, that is only a partial truth. The EU, or the EC, diligently follows "a recommendation of independent experts", where one hundred percent of these "independent experts" originate from two very reputable non-profit organizations that are so fanatic in their belief in gun bans, that they even want to disarm victims of the Islamic State. In this article we are going to look into them.

A lot has been written about the European Commission’s proposal for banning most semi-automatic firearms and even making possession of an air-gun from grandfather in the attic a criminal offense. Despite this, a lot of journalists, as well as Members of European Parliament, still believe that Proposal COM2015(750) is indeed harmless and does not really ban almost anything; on the contrary, they think it would protect Europe from criminals.

Dear colleagues,

Since I am writing to you from The Czech Republic, allow me to introduce our country first. In our republic, the ownership and carrying of firearms is truly legitimate, guaranteed by law to any adult, legally competent and law-abiding person. Firearms license is shall-issue (anyone who fulfills the given requirements of the law has legal right to get it). Permit to own B - category firearm is shall-issue, as well as permit for concealed carry. We own handguns, we use them for sport shooting and carry them for personal protection. We own semiautomatic rifles of military patterns, we shoot them in various sport competitions, and we practice with them in case that our beloved country needs its citizens to be prepared for its defense.