[Note from BFIA:  This came in our inbox yesterday from the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club.  Please contact your legislator(s) and ask them to vote no on Resolution 2001.  It’s bad enough that they now get  to kill the beautiful doves for the sheer fun of it.  Now apparently they don’t think they’ll be happy unless they get to use lead in their ammo.]

If we can get lead out of our gasoline, our paint and our toys, why can’t we get it out of our ammunition to hunt Mourning Doves?

The answer to that question is that lawmakers are squabbling over who has more control over rules — the legislative or the executive branches of government.

Twin joint resolutions, SJR2001 and HJR2001, nullify the Natural Resource Commission’s amended rule that would prohibit lead ammunition when hunting doves. Both resolutions have passed their necessary committees and the House passed its version 68-27 on February 2. The Senate resolution is ready for floor debate which could come very soon.

Tell your Senator to vote NO on Resolution 2001.

Lawmakers are also hearing arguments that the NRC overstepped its authority to add a lead prohibition in its dove hunting rule; that there isn’t enough research to indicate a need for a lead ammunition prohibition; that the science that exists is “junk;” and that this is the first attempt in an effort to ban guns. Nothing could be further from the truth on all accounts.

You can find out more about this issue, links to the science and the history of the dove hunting bill during the 2011 legislative session and the NRC’s rulemaking process on the Iowa Sierra Club Chapter website. You can also take a look at the “Nontoxic and Lead Shot Literature Review” produced by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in 2008.

Contact your Senator and say a “no” vote is a vote for the environment.