A quiet victory for gun lobby

Wounded Warrior Project alumni Sandra Lee shoots at a Pahquioque Rod and Gun Club sponsored event in 2012 at Wooster Mountain shooting range in Danbury, Conn. The Environmental Protection Agency is prohibited from regulating spent ammunition shells and shots as toxic substances. The ban was buried in the National Defense Authorization Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law the day before Thanksgiving. less Wounded Warrior Project alumni Sandra Lee shoots at a Pahquioque Rod and Gun Club sponsored event in 2012 at Wooster Mountain shooting range in Danbury, Conn. The Environmental Protection Agency is prohibited ... more Photo: File Photo / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: File Photo / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close A quiet victory for gun lobby 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON — Talk about safe gun legislation is everywhere these days — from the presidential campaign trail, to the halls of Congress to editorial pages nationwide.

Democratic lawmakers, like Connecticut’s congressional delegation, have loudly condemned the GOP-controlled Congress for inaction on gun legislation in the wake of the Newtown mass shooting and on the heels of the San Bernardino, Calif., terror-inspired attack.

But in a quiet, under-the-radar way, it is the pro-gun side — including the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, or NSSF — that is making progress on its legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.

One example: Buried in the National Defense Authorization Act that President Barack Obama signed into law the day before Thanksgiving is language that prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating spent bullets and shells as toxic substances.

NSSF, which is the gun industry’s trade group, issued a press release hailing the approval of “a top legislative priority,” saying the law would preserve “our hunting and recreational shooting heritage” against encroachment by “radical anti-hunting organizations.”

The National Rifle Association also claimed success.

“Prohibiting the EPA from banning traditional ammunition is a huge victory for hunters, recreational sportsmen and our military,” the NRA said in its release. “This ensures that our military, hunters and sportsmen will have access to traditional ammunition at a reasonable cost.”

Passage of the ammunition measure may seem like yet another unremarkable trip through Washington’s lawmaking sausage factory, but it speaks volumes about the continued lobbying clout of the NSSF and the NRA.

More Information Some 2015 issues that prompted lobbying S. 225 Hunting, Fishing, and Recreational Shooting Protection Act Similar to EPA ban that ultimately became part of defense bill Won congressional approval. Signed into law by President Obama on Nov. 25, 2015 H.R. 2019 ATF Wrongful Reclassification Act Redefines federal limits on armor-piercing ammunition to exclude weaponry used for “sporting purposes” H.R. 2710 Lawful Purpose and Self Defense Act Lifts federal prohibitions that limit weapons imports to those suitable for “sporting purposes”

With mass shootings dominating the news at regular intervals, U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty and others in Connecticut’s all-Democratic congressional delegation rail at fellow lawmakers over failure to pass expanded background checks, preventing those on the terrorism watch list from buying guns, and similar legislation.

“Congress is complicit by its inaction,” said Blumenthal.

But while it shuns proposals such as background checks, Congress is willing to hand pro-gun allies victories such as the one involving ammunition and the EPA. In that case, dominant Republicans were aided by a few rural “Red-State” Democrats such as Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.

Since the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy three years ago, the NSSF has expanded its presence on Capitol Hill to the point where its annual spending on lobbying now exceeds that of the much-larger and better-funded NRA. NSSF represents 12,000 gun manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, importers, publishers and shooting-range owners.

Controversy over guns has proved to be a positive for the gun business. Gun manufacturing in the U.S. has more than doubled since 2008, according to data gathered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Very few firearms companies publicly report revenues but those that do are seeing profits up in recent years. Southport-based Sturm, Ruger & Co., for instance, reported net sales of $544.4 million in 2014, more than double its 2010 total.

The largest rifle manufacturer in Connecticut is Colt of West Hartford, followed by Stag Arms of New Britain and O.F. Mossberg & Sons of North Haven, according to ATF data.

Not the typical fight

The dispute underlying the ammo measure is unusual on a number of fronts. First, it doesn’t involve the gun lobby’s usual opponents — advocates of gun control such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Instead, environmental groups fought the NSSF and NRA over the environmentalists’ contention that the main component of U.S. ammunition — lead — is hazardous to birds and wildlife that might ingest spent pellets.

Also, despite Obama’s advocacy for expanded background checks and other gun-control measures, Obama’s EPA also opposed the environmentalists in arguing that regulation of ammunition is beyond the agency’s legal limits.

The pro-gun side scored a major legal victory a year ago when a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington sided with the EPA in resisting a petition from 101 environmental organizations to get the agency to regulate spent ammunition under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Such regulation was necessary to “protect wildlife, human health and the environment against the unreasonable risk of injury from bullets and shot containing lead used in hunting and shooting sports,” the environmental groups said. Among those species at risk were bald eagles and condors.

The NSSF countered that there was “simply no sound scientific evidence” that “traditional” ammunition is a hazard to wildlife.

The appeals court panel disagreed with the environmental groups, pointing to the law’s specific exclusion of bullets and shot from the definition of “chemical substance” subject to EPA regulation.

Regulating spent ammunition would require EPA to regulate “cartridges and shells — precisely what (the Toxic Substances Control Act) prohibits,” the panel wrote.

One of the environmental groups’ lead lawyers, Bill Snape of the Center for Biological Diversity, insisted advocacy for controlling lead ammunition will continue.

“The NRA certainly did win a round in that battle, but the effort to regulate ammunition is not over,” he said, insisting the groups’ bid for EPA regulation was never about stopping hunters or limiting guns.