Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced legislation Wednesday to block various federal agencies from banning the use of lead tackle and ammunition by fishermen and hunters.
The bill is the Protecting Access for Hunters and Anglers Act of 2025. It prohibits any ban on lead tackle or ammunition being issued by “the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service or the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and the Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest Service.”
Daines commented on his push to prohibit any ban, saying:
The great outdoors is a staple of our Montana way of life. Montana hunters and anglers play an important role in wildlife management, and a ban on lead ammo and tackle would be unfair to our sportsmen. I’ll keep fighting with my colleagues to make sure decisions impacting outdoor recreation are guided by commonsense science, not anti-hunting groups.
On June 17, 2024, the NRA’s American Hunter noted that firearm and ammunition manufacturers fund billions in conservation efforts via the Pittman-Roberts Fund. This fund came into existence in 1937 and “gun and ammo makers forked over more than $222 million…[for conservation] in the fourth quarter of 2023 alone.”
National Shooting Sports Foundation senior vice president and general counsel Lawrence Keane noted that the influx of these millions and, cumulatively, billions, would be in jeopardy in the event of a lead tackle or ammo ban.
“Firearm and ammunition manufacturers have paid over $29 billion, when adjusted for inflation, since 1937 and that has been the leading funding source of wildlife and habitat conservation in America,” he said. “Efforts by bureaucrats to limit or eliminate the use of traditional lead ammunition and fishing tackle without scientific evidence puts those conservation funds at serious risk by increasing costs and creating barriers to participation in outdoor recreation.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly:
