Health officials decry gun bill
The measure bars state and local governments from suing gun ranges over pollution from lead pellets.
By CRAIG PITTMAN
Published February 18, 2004
PINELLAS PARK - Three people who frequented indoor gun ranges in Pinellas County last year breathed in too much lead dust from the ranges, and two developed lead poisoning, according to Pinellas health officials.
But a bill now rolling toward passage by the state Legislature to protect gun ranges from government regulation would prevent health department workers from helping customers and employees in the future, health officials say.
"What it says is we're even forbidden from investigating or even trying to educate people," said Melanie Thoenes of the Pinellas County Health Department's lead intervention team. "If there is a risk there, we need to be sure people get notified."
Most of the controversy over the bill has focused on the risk of water pollution caused by lead pellets fired at outdoor ranges. But at a news conference Tuesday co-sponsored by the Florida Consumer Action Network and the Sierra Club, Thoenes brought up concerns regarding indoor gun ranges.
However, National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer dismissed those concerns as "heifer dust - pure, unadulterated heifer dust."
Hammer contended that the only people who oppose the bill are "antigun folks" - including some members of the NRA who criticized it during Tuesday's news conference at Sawgrass Lake Park.
Among them was Sierra Club political chairman Bob Sullivan of St. Petersburg, who said he has belonged to the NRA for 15 years, owns three guns and opposes the bill.
Under the bill, state and local governments would be blocked from suing any of Florida's 400 gun ranges over lead contamination. Any state or local government employee who did anything that helped produce such a lawsuit would face a third-degree felony charge.
Hammer says such attempts at preventing or cleaning up environmental contamination at gun ranges are actually "backdoor gun control."
The bill was sparked, in part, by a state lawsuit against Skyway Trap and Skeet Club of Pinellas Park, where state regulators say lead pellets from 60 years of target practice have contaminated soil and water. State regulators say the lead contamination threatens nearby Sawgrass Lake, a park where children fish.
Estimated cost of a cleanup is $10-million to $15-million. Under the bill the Legislature is considering, that cost would be borne by the taxpayers, not Skyway Trap and Skeet.
The lawsuit filed by the state Department of Environmental Protection is slated for a hearing in May, but if the bill passes, it will force the DEP to withdraw its lawsuit.
Despite strong objections from DEP and environmental activists, the House version of the bill has already passed its only committee vote. It will head to the floor when the full Legislature meets next month. The Senate version has passed two committee votes and is headed for a third today.
Although the bill says there "is no indisputable or incontrovertible evidence" that lead from bullets poses a human health risk, Pinellas health officials say that's not true.
Pull the trigger on a firearm and the impact of the firing pin onto the bullet's primer causes it to explode, igniting gunpowder. Health officials say the exploding primer contains lead, which is emitted into the air and can then settle into the hair, skin, clothes and shoes of the person firing the gun.
If the bullet is made of lead, more lead dust is emitted when the bullet strikes its target. County health officials say inadequate ventilation or poor maintenance can turn the dust buildup into a serious problem.
For instance, a Clearwater firing range shut down for more than a year in the early 1990s when a county inspector discovered its air vents were blowing lead dust out of the building, over the playground of a nearby child care center. Lead levels were thousands of times higher than what was considered safe. The range owner spent $250,000 to clean up and reopen.
More recently, Thoenes said, three separate cases have appeared in Pinellas of people who breathed in too much lead dust while at indoor ranges. County health officials would not identify the ranges or the people involved, citing confidentiality concerns, but Thoenes said one was a shooting instructor who was at the range all day.
Only one of the three ranges allowed health officials inside to check for lead dust buildup, according to the health department. The samples, taken by wiping the dust from the range floor, front entrance and other locations, were anywhere from four to 680 times what state and federal rules classify as safe.
Pinellas is far from alone. Pinellas health officials cited similar reports from health authorities in Alaska, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York. The reports from Alaska, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania concerned teenagers on high school shooting teams.
- Times staff writer Anne Lindberg and researcher John Martin contributed to this report.
The effects of lead poisoningLead poisoning, a problem that is commonly associated with lead-based paints in older houses, can affect nearly every system in the body. According to the Pinellas County Health Department, the symptoms of elevated lead levels in the body include:
High blood pressure
Hypertension
Kidney damage
Impotence
Stomach pains
Diarrhea
Constipation
Weakness in hands
Miscarriages and fertility problems
Difficulty concentrating