Environmental Protection Agency Reviewing Petition to Ban Lead Bullets

From Weekly Standard.com (August 27):

Will Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson make a back door move to ban lead bullets the day before the November 2 elections?

Several environmentalist groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) are petitioning the EPA to ban lead bullets and shot (as well as lead sinkers for fishing) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Although EPA is barred by statute from controlling ammunition, CBD is seeking to work farther back along the manufacturing chain and have EPA ban the use of lead in bullets and shot because non-lead alternatives are available. But here's the catch: the alternatives to lead bullets are more expensive [my italics]. A ban on the sale of lead ammunition would force hunters and sport shooters to buy non-lead ammunition that is often double the cost of traditional lead ammunition. A box of deer hunting bullets in a popular caliber could be upwards of $55. [read more]

I think the US gov't has gone insane--if not already. Although this is a sneaky end-run around gun control. Instead of banning guns--just make the bullets more expensive to buy. And blame it on "saving the environment." You get the same result. Less people owning guns. You can't use a gun if you don't have ammunition for it.