Special Report: How a proposed lead ammo ban could impact MN trap shooting

HERMANTOWN, Minn. (Northern News Now) - In Minnesota, some proposed environmental and health legislation is the latest step in a long range effort to get lead out of ammunition statewide.

Despite hitting some stumbling blocks in this year’s legislative session, a Northland lawmaker is hoping this will be the push needed to make major change happen down the line.

Meanwhile, participants in one of Minnesota’s fastest-growing sports are worried that could make their sport unaffordable for many young people.

Trap shooting is a sport that’s exploding in popularity among young people in Minnesota.

High school senior Haley Thompson is Hermantown’s trap team Co-Captain.

“I’ve just always been super interested,” said Thompson. “I like the idea of being able to shoot for myself.”

She said she has met some of her best friends in the sport, making it overall a great experience.

However, that experience has a steep price of almost $500 per season per student.

Right now the ammunition that’s used in trap shooting contains lead, but some new legislation is aiming to change that.

This has parents, coaches, and players worried it may make the sport less accessible.

The bills introduced in both the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate seek to ban lead in ammunition, requiring trap shooters and hunters to start using non-toxic materials like steel.

According to Hermantown’s Trap Coach Teresa Theobald, steel ammunition is substantially more expensive and that means many students simply wouldn’t be able to take part.

“What we are worried about is my team going from 85 kids to 15,” said Theobald.

She’s said for many trap shooters, it’s their only extracurricular activity.

“Giving these kids an opportunity to belong somewhere in a sport in school, I think is huge,” said Theobald.

With two kids on the trap team, Matt McShane is concerned about the possibility of skyrocketing costs as well.

“It’s an unreasonable burden on families and kids especially on the largest sport in the state of Minnesota,” said McShane.

At Fisherman’s Corner in Duluth, owner Matt King said lead trap loads cost around $10 per box, but the steel runs much higher.

“You’re looking at more like $14 to $15 per box,” said King. “With 10 boxes in a case, you can figure $50 to $60 more per case, it adds up.”

He said some trap shooters may even need to get a new gun to accommodate the change.

“Some people are shooting their old grandfather’s 870 shotgun with a fixed barrel,” said King. “If they go to steel, they’re going to have to buy a new shotgun.”

King thinks the steel industry may not be in a position to create all that added ammunition, which could upend the growing sport.

“If they were to have to go to that right away this sport would be probably in a real big panic,” said King.

DFL State Senator Jen McEwen, who represents the Duluth area, is a co-author of the Senate version of the bill.

While the legislation didn’t make it through committee in the current session, she said it’s laying the groundwork for future change.

“The legislation that we introduced this year is really to begin the conversation around how we get lead out of our ammunition,” said Sen. McEwen.

Sen. McEwen was approached by the Minnesota Division of the Izaak Walton League, a conservation group to propose the legislation.

Craig Sterle serves as Conservation Issues Chair for the league. He’s concerned about the health impact all that shooting could have on the sport’s young participants as lead is a neurotoxin.

Sterle said that lead exposure for students can happen in a few different ways.

“They’re breathing it in,” said Sterle. “There’s lead in the shot pellets and dust in that shot pellet cartridge and so when that goes out the barrel, there’s this cloud of some of its even vaporized.”

Sterle, a lifelong hunter himself, said lead exposure can be especially harmful in people who are still growing.

“When you’re building bones, you’re supposed to be putting calcium in your bones,” said Sterle. “But if they’re exposed to lead, the lead goes into their bones instead of calcium”

This claim was also supported by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

“Lead can also be incorporated into bones and stored long term, and then later in life it can be slowly released,” said Dr. Stephanie Yendell with MDH.

She added while you can’t get lead exposure through touch, you could if you didn’t wash your hands after handling your gun or ammunition, and then touch your face or eat.

“There is no safe level of exposure to lead, and there are certain activities that would be riskier than other activities,” said Dr. Yendell.

As for breathing in the vaporized lead from the multiple students shooting trap outside, more data may be needed to determine the exact risk.

“It would depend on the wind speed, and sort of how much that air is dispersing,” said Dr. Yendell.

Language in the legislation may address some of the issues concerning so many people, including studying the safety of the sport.

The legislation plans to appropriate funding for voluntary blood lead level testing for people who’ve participated in trap shooting.

There are also plans for a voucher system to provide non-toxic ammunition to hunters and trap shooters at no cost, though the logistics are still up in the air.

“I think that that has yet to be determined, sort of the specificity of some of how that would work,” said Sen. McEwen.

She believes the cost of steel ammunition will come down once production catches up with demand if lead is phased out.

“The legislation is really a nod to the knowledge that it will take a little while for the market to adjust, but the market will adjust,” said Sen. McEwen.

For Sterle, the cost of this change is well worth it to promote long-term safety for kids.

“The overall cost of lead contamination, the cost of people getting sick,” said Sterle. “From lead use, the health care costs are far greater than the small costs that would be to go from using to using non-toxic ammunition.”

Meanwhile, Coach Theobald said she’s not aware of any current or former Hermantown trap team shooters experiencing health issues connected to lead exposure.

However, she is aware of how much the sport means to them.

“To take that away just due to financial burden with no safety problems, I think that’s unfair,” said Theobald.

For students like Thompson, she’s hoping the current generation of shooters will be able to keep their sights on the sport they love.

“I really think that trap has helped me learn a lot about myself,” said Thompson. “I think that if the cost were to get more than what it is now it could be fairly difficult to be able to participate”

While this current version of the legislation will go no further in St. Paul this year, Senator McEwen says she’s hoping to hold informational sessions where interested parties on both sides of the issue can give input.

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