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Maryland\u2019s already inconvenienced gun owners <\/a>now have to contend with Senate Bill 634 (SB 634)\u2014a push to ditch lead ammo.<\/p>\n This bill is telling the Department of Natural Resources to phase out lead for hunting, one species at a time, until it\u2019s totally gone by July 1, 2029. It hit the Senate Education, Energy & Environment Committee on March 4 and was immediately met with backlash \u2013 specifically from the dedicated crowd of hunters in the state.<\/p>\n Lead ammo\u2019s the king of cheap and efficient\u2014no other material produces projectiles that work this well for the price. It\u2019s been dropping game and filling freezers since the invention of the first smooth bore hand cannnons, but now they\u2019re supposed to swap it for pricey copper or all-steel projectiles that not only introduce their own set of problems on the shooting side but are also often way more expensive to produce and buy. <\/p>\n Maryland\u2019s hunting scene hauls in $328 million and keeps 4,100 people working, says the National Shooting Sports Foundation, so this could hit hard<\/a>. And it\u2019s not just hunters\u2014range shooters, competitors, and self-defense folks live on lead too; it\u2019s the backbone of damn near every trigger pull.<\/p>\n