For advocates of lead ammunition, the arguments have become academic. The leaders of our major shooting and countryside organizations have signed a statement in support of the removal of lead — and single-use plastic — from all ammunition used for hunting game, within five years (News, 4 March).
Critics will not see this as final. However, my nose for historical momentum tells me that their voices will go unheeded and they will become increasingly less relevant, essentially disenfranchising themselves politically from the process of dealing with a new reality.
It is important to be clear on what has, and what has not, happened. Lead has not been banned and our organizations have not come out in support of a legal ban on lead shot.
They have expressed a desire for a five-year period in which lead will remain freely available, and used by those who wish to use it, but during which the shooting industry and related trades work hard to encourage its phasing out, the development of alternatives and the promotion of their widespread adoption.
Hopefully, this will kneecap those currently driving the legislative agenda and persuade the Government to take a pause and see how self-regulation changes the situation, reducing the motivation to find parliamentary time to create a legal ban on lead ammunition.
The majority of people on commercial shoots use a gun that can already take standard steel shot. They will have to start using it.
Lead bans are not unique to the UK. Legislation began in many countries after the acceptance of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement in 1999. It was prompted by scientific studies, going back to the 1880s, that showed bottom-feeding waterfowl were being poisoned by ingesting lead shot.
A look at the history and consequences of lead bans in other countries may show us how the future here could look.
New Zealand
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