Essay Example on An Environmental look on Gun Control

When the ground soaks it up it starts affecting the quality of the soil which is crucial to a plant s needs According to Jon M Arnemo a professor for the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management at Inland Norway University For decades poisoning from spent lead ammunition was mainly regarded as a disease of waterfowl but it also puts at risk the health of raptors scavengers and other terrestrial species including humans who frequently consume hunted game Arnemo This is because not only does the lead directly affect the things around it but it is also affecting the things that eat the affected thing For example when if a deer had been exposed to the poison of lead bullets while or before it was shot and then the hunter was to eat it the deer now the hunter is at risk to get lead poisoning because the deer had it too According to David C Bellinger from the Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health Therefore lead based ammunition is likely the greatest largely unregulated source of lead that is knowingly discharged into the environment in the United States In contrast the release or distribution of other major sources of environmental lead contamination Bellinger For many years scientist have been testing ways that lead has been affecting the environment however they have always skipped over thinking about lead bullets because they do not think that something so small could do some much damage When a bullet that had lead in it is shot it shatters into millions of pieces 

While the first bullet made entirely of copper retained 99 percent of its original weight the second bullet comprised of lead broke into pieces losing a quarter of its weight when it hit the jugs Peeples When they went to see how much of the lead bullet they could actually find they were only able to find 70 of the bullet So where did the rest of the bullet go Not only do can the bullets sock into the ground and effect the ground they can also enter the air and cause pollution But Samuel Blackstone wrote a report on a study done by the Environmental Working Group EWG that showed that there are about 1 813 firing ranges in America Using a modest average of 15 customers shooting 50 rounds a day the EWG calculates nine million pounds of lead are released into the environment every year Blackstone Which in the long run could be very dangerous for our health and the health of those around us By creating stricter laws on gun control the government will be able to limit the amount of lead in the soil and water limit the amount of lead poisoning and also limit the amount of pollution in the air that is caused by lead based bullets