Most U.S. gun owners use lead-based ammunition and primers, and nearly half don’t engage in any post-shooting hygiene behaviors such as changing their clothes or showering, a study found.
Personally, I just never really thought about it. Mostly what you touch is the brass case anyway. I wash my hands pretty frequently, but that’s not always an option in the woods.
They touch each other, lead dust from rattling around, the gasses, etc. There’s a lot.
And when you actually find out how incredibly little it takes, accumulatively, and that it stays with you basically forever… Handling lead in any capacity is bad stuff. It’s very very toxic.
Imagining people breathing it and handling it and having it around your home and on your clothes. It starts to paint a picture… A lead picture.
Not only that but us fucking over the local ecology we have to step in and kill off some numbers of prey species or they will literally starve to death. It’s fucked up, but we’re in this mess and until we collectively are fine with wolves et al, we’ll need to continue it.
Fun fact, the wolf reintroduction efforts in many places across the US have been going very well! I’m only posting this because you mentioned wolves and I think it’s like one of the very few positive environmental stories I know of. We still need to hunt (mostly deer) to keep population from exceeding the habitat carrying capacity in many places. But it’s super neat that there’s people out there working to restore some of the collective harm on the environment that we’ve caused.
Prior post to this one but the ecology in some areas of the USA and North America in general are so fucked that unless we literally thin the herd they will die of starvation.
It’s ethical for a farmer to protect themselves and live stock but many are gun ho about killing all predators. Given that a lot of farms tend to be remote, you have a rifle in the truck and pack a pistol to at least try to scare away the animal.
Lab-grown meat will likely have an odd taste to it but is more likely to be morally acceptable.
Considering we can taste the difference between corn-fed and grass-fed beef, I’d imagine they would work on figuring out the nutrient slurry that makes the meatalog taste best. They might even be able to improve the taste, texture, marbling, &c. I just don’t expect the first generation product to be great
IIRC It’s more that shooting the lead bullets vaporizes little bits of metal dust, and certain gun designs project a lot of this towards the user’s face. AKA. Hot lead dust in the face.
Personally, I just never really thought about it. Mostly what you touch is the brass case anyway. I wash my hands pretty frequently, but that’s not always an option in the woods.
I recommend de-lead wipes for a range bag mainstay. Works as a moist towlette even when you aren’t shooting.
Are they unscented?
The Hoppes brand ones are either unscented or so mild that I don’t smell anything.
I never thought to check, bit you could probably find some that are; hunting communities would be the place to look for that, I’d think.
They touch each other, lead dust from rattling around, the gasses, etc. There’s a lot.
And when you actually find out how incredibly little it takes, accumulatively, and that it stays with you basically forever… Handling lead in any capacity is bad stuff. It’s very very toxic.
Imagining people breathing it and handling it and having it around your home and on your clothes. It starts to paint a picture… A lead picture.
True but maybe stop killing shit
Hunting is literally the most ethical way to consume meat.
Not only that but us fucking over the local ecology we have to step in and kill off some numbers of prey species or they will literally starve to death. It’s fucked up, but we’re in this mess and until we collectively are fine with wolves et al, we’ll need to continue it.
Fun fact, the wolf reintroduction efforts in many places across the US have been going very well! I’m only posting this because you mentioned wolves and I think it’s like one of the very few positive environmental stories I know of. We still need to hunt (mostly deer) to keep population from exceeding the habitat carrying capacity in many places. But it’s super neat that there’s people out there working to restore some of the collective harm on the environment that we’ve caused.
… That’s… I’ve never thought about it that way.
What about ethical for the farmer/hunter?
And what about lab-grown meat? We aren’t totally there yet, but it could have big implications for the meat industry.
Prior post to this one but the ecology in some areas of the USA and North America in general are so fucked that unless we literally thin the herd they will die of starvation.
It’s ethical for a farmer to protect themselves and live stock but many are gun ho about killing all predators. Given that a lot of farms tend to be remote, you have a rifle in the truck and pack a pistol to at least try to scare away the animal.
Lab-grown meat will likely have an odd taste to it but is more likely to be morally acceptable.
Considering we can taste the difference between corn-fed and grass-fed beef, I’d imagine they would work on figuring out the nutrient slurry that makes the meatalog taste best. They might even be able to improve the taste, texture, marbling, &c. I just don’t expect the first generation product to be great
It would still be a massive, amazing development just needs some time to properly age.
There’s no such thing as lab grown meat and if there ever will be it’s not in the near term
Only if you kill the prey bare arms only.
To be fair, they could just go out there for target practice and shoot soda cans or something
Which is usually what I’m doing. I only shoot living things if I intend to eat them and that’s pretty rare.
Yeah I shoot a lot but I don’t hunt.
Yeah that’s my thing. And not even often anymore. Just enough to keep the skills up.
How can I kill shit? It’s already dead.
Maybe yours is
If your shit is alive you should probably see a doctor.
My shit is a doctor.
Now there’s a party trick!
It gets really awkward when you fart and moths come out too
IIRC It’s more that shooting the lead bullets vaporizes little bits of metal dust, and certain gun designs project a lot of this towards the user’s face. AKA. Hot lead dust in the face.