I was reading about how the EU is thinking of reducing the lead used in ammunition because it’s polluting the environment. I wonder if regular lead exposure at the firing range is addling people’s brains.

    • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍@midwest.social
      9·
      9 months ago

      There’s no lead in gunpowder. Much anno is jacketted in copper, or is solid copper. So the only time there’d be lead exposure from firing a gun is if you were fring lead bullets, and even then you’re exposed to tiny amounts.

      What the EU is concerned about is soil contamination. The folks shooting the guns don’t have to worry about it, but thousands of people shooting millions of rounds, some percent of which have lead that gets exposed when the bullet hits something, and that’s all going into the soil… that’s an environmental hazard. It’s also a little more of a worry for indoor ranges, but I haven’t seen one in the US that didn’t have positive pressure air filtration in years, so it’s not an issue there, either.