Good article about lead bullets/health risks, labor issues in Seattle WA...

[RustyShackelford]

I read a great detailed article online about the serious problem of lead exposure & labor/safety issues at US gun ranges, gun shops.

This link to the media site: www.seattletimes.com . The in depth story; Loaded With Lead 10/17/2014 discussed the toxic & dangerous fumes that come with working in the shooting sports industry. The reporters also found that many gun ranges & pistol clubs had OSHA, www.OSHA.gov problems or didn't meet state health-labor standards.
A few ranges & locations had no formal checks or safety/air quality inspections.

The Seattle Times article wasn't anti-gun or slanted IMO. It seemed to stress the necessity for gun range owners or private clubs to take precautions or be aware of the serious health risks involved with extended exposure to lead & other toxic substances.

If you own a gun range or work at a gun shop/gun range, I highly suggest you read this Seattle Times article & get a full medical check-up.
Most of the ranges in my metro area are clean, well run & have proper ventilation but I've seen other places that were not safe to work in.

Rusty

 

[Thermactor]

Seen my fair share of range employees who seemed to have lead poisoning affecting their minds! Haha

 

[itsa pain]

I read a great detailed article online about the serious problem of lead exposure & labor/safety issues at US gun ranges, gun shops.

This link to the media site: www.seattletimes.com . The in depth story; Loaded With Lead 10/17/2014 discussed the toxic & dangerous fumes that come with working in the shooting sports industry. The reporters also found that many gun ranges & pistol clubs had OSHA, www.OSHA.gov problems or didn't meet state health-labor standards.
A few ranges & locations had no formal checks or safety/air quality inspections.

The Seattle Times article wasn't anti-gun or slanted IMO. It seemed to stress the necessity for gun range owners or private clubs to take precautions or be aware of the serious health risks involved with extended exposure to lead & other toxic substances.

If you own a gun range or work at a gun shop/gun range, I highly suggest you read this Seattle Times article & get a full medical check-up.
Most of the ranges in my metro area are clean, well run & have proper ventilation but I've seen other places that were not safe to work in.

Rusty

This is really great you have put out this info for the anti gunners. they are looking to ban lead and switch to a substitute MUCH more expensive as if ammo is not expensive enough.the anti care not about crime or the air we breathe just making using guns very costly and burdensome

 

[RustyShackelford]

Lead, toxic substances.....

I think the solution to a lot of the employee health/labor issue is for gun range owners/gun clubs to;
A) Keep the ranges or lanes clean. To constantly clear away any trash, spent brass, lead bullets/expanded bullets, etc is smart. To wipe down the surfaces & properly throw out all trash bags/garbage can help reduce the exposures & prevent illness/problems.
B) Train & mandate the use of gloves, eye protection, hazmat, signs of exposure, etc. Many of these gun ranges & shop only pay service industry wages: $8.00/$9.00/$10.00 per hour. The staffs & managers should make the effort to prepare for the environmental issues & toxins/propellants/carbon effects.
C) Gun range managers & owners should spend the $$$ to have proper ventilation & air purifiers/cleaning agents to keep the fumes-smoke-lead at a min.
D) Using lead free rounds or ammunition that has reduced lead content/reduced toxins. That may be more expensive but it will be safer in the long term.
E) Gun ranges(indoors) should not allow pregnant women, young children or anyone with breathing/lung problems(use of oxygen tanks) on the range.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

The proper answer is for indoor shooting ranges to have 100% outside air so nothing is recirculated. I don't believe the brass, trash, and other refuse is a health issue although you might be able to make an argument that it is a safety issue. As to the bullets, they should all be caught in the trap at the opposite end of the range from where you shoot and this should also be the area where the range air is exhausted. The worst lead poisoning is the one that enters your body at a high rate of speed.

 

[RustyShackelford]

True....

True!
I would still have staff or range personnel wear face masks/purifiers & garments/gloves when cleaning up the lanes at the end of the day.
They should know what the signs of lead poisoning & illness can be too.

I recall reading a forum post about a target shooting team in MA that started using precautions & wearing masks after the gunsmoke/fumes became a problem.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I read the series and was thinking about putting a post in THR. Glad to see someone already did. Agree with op general comments. I did get my lead level checked two years ago and for upcoming physical I had already asked to have it checked again. I figure I'm already getting blood drawn so why not add the test.

I wish the article would have talked a bit more about outdoor ranges as I suspect there are less problems.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Thanks....

Thanks for the post.
I read the Seattle Times article & it made me realize a few things too.
I was unaware the problems were so serious & so wide-spread(all over the US).
I don't go to indoor ranges as much as a professional target shooter or Navy SEAL so my lead exposure isn't a major problem.
A popular shooting range near me is well run & has a fairly competent cadre.

Prevention & using precautions is the big take-away from the article series.

 

[threefeathers]

Good article Rusty. As usual you do good research.

 

[g.willikers]

Indoor ranges might not be as bad as the "experts" say.
Don't forget if the world isn't as dangerous as OSHA and others say, there would be a lot of bureaucrats scrounging for much lower paying jobs.
Lead, for example, isn't as easy to absorb as it sounds.
I used to use an indoor range twice a month minimum for five straight years.
It was hardly a clean place, but it did have decent ventilation.
And my lead count never increased.
Just for a precaution, sometimes if the range was busy, I'd use a simple paper style mask.
Plus washing face and hands well before eating or drinking anything, and throwing my range clothes directly into the washing machine when getting home after a range session.
That was all it took to avoid high lead blood counts.

 

[texasgun]

I avoid indoor ranges at all costs... typically they are packed, loud, and stink... even in 100F+ weather or 40F below weather in Texas... I'd pick an outdoor range over indoor anyday...

 

[denton]

I'd pick an outdoor range over indoor anyday...

^This.

I'd also say, don't smoke while shooting. If you handle lead, your hands will transfer it to a cigarette. As the cigarette burns, and you inhale, you get that transferred lead in your lungs.

And/or, double up on the grapefruit juice. The acids help escort lead out of your body.

 

[acdodd]

The Seattle Times is an anti gun liberal rag.
The story was published 2 weeks before the election to get the idiots in Seattle to vote for an anti gun initiative.
Everything they publish is propaganda.
The only thing worth reading in the Seattle Times is the comics.

 

[suemarkp]

One thing the article didn't mention was the lead in primers. You can use FMJ or non-lead bullets all you want and you'll still have lead vapor when the cartridge fires. Much this lead residue lands on the floor in front of you and shooting table.

I think that is the main hazard -- the range cleaners who sweep this "dust" up and have no space suit or mask. Not going to be a problem so much for the shooter or even if you cleaned the range once a year. But if that was your job every day, I could see breathing way too much lead dust and getting it all over your clothes.

 

[kitsapshooter]

Rusty you read a different article then I did or you read it wrong.
You give way to much value to what the article said, Do you verify it with outside sources?
i have learned these past 24 years to never take anything a Seattle paper, well any paper at face value as you seem to have done.

 

[barnbwt]

I grew up in WA, and you should have heard half the eco-idiocy passed to protect salmon up there. Always, and I mean always, verify these claims before trusting such self-serving claims by environmental scientists or doctors. Very few aren't statists in favor of regulation simply because they don't trust non-phd's, or make good money decrying the falling sky.

"One thing the article didn't mention was the lead in primers."
Fancy that; the main source of exposure for shooters, and they missed it. Could it be these folks don't actually know what they are talking about? (With regards to shooting, not lead, but maybe both. Verify, then trust)

TCB

 

[340PD]

I have worked at a municipal indoor range for four years. All the employees are checked for hearing loss as well as lead and cobalt in their system on a yearly basis.

We have yet to find an employee that has even a slightly elevated lead content level when compared to the general population, and we work on the actual firing line, not behind a glass wall.

 

[hso]

There are requirements under the lead standard that range operators are required to comply with and NSSF even has seminars to help range operators put together a compliant program and implement it to keep employees from becoming overexposed to lead.

Range operators have been cited and fined for not having an effective lead protection program and employees have had measurable elevated blood lead levels in many instances.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Post #14.....

To respond to #14:
No, I did not fact check or investigate every resource connected to the article.
I posted the topic for forum members to learn about or read on their own.
I'm not the Seattle Times, the NY Times or USA Today.
If a member chooses to read a topic & disagree with it then so be it.
I'm not posting things like the lead content article/series so members can gripe about how much they hate the media(or a specific publication).

I don't agree with the double-standards & hyprocracy some members on THR have.
All members & their posted remarks should be held to the same standard or scrutiny.
If any members have a problem with the Seattle Times article, take it up with them. They wrote & published it.
I choose to believe it & wanted to pass it on to others on the forum who may work in the US shooting sports industry.

 

[stchman]

I would take any information that liberal newspapers publish with a grain of salt.

 

[texasgun]

^^^

didn't know that lead poisoning was a liberal/leftist thing and that conservative/right wing people are immune to elevated lead levels :banghead:

lead exposure (if NOT properly handled) can be a huge issue at indoor ranges.
do some research on what happened at Wades in Bellevue a while ago and their indoor range.

 

[Nom de Forum]

Great Post Rusty.

I don't think it is news to anyone who has been around the block that the Shooting Industry has a less than stellar reputation for addressing the health and environmental issues of lead. The Shooting Industry is some what like the Petroleum Industry, reactive only when the consequences are too economically/legally harsh to ignore. Do a little reading about the historical economics of use lead in gasoline and the health consequences and you will see what I mean. Fortunately the Shooting Industry hasn't nearly the economic incentive to avoid addressing the lead issue and the environmental and health hazards are far less of a problem to solve.

 

[barnbwt]

"didn't know that lead poisoning was a liberal/leftist thing and that conservative/right wing people are immune to elevated lead levels"

Nobody, but nobody, is or has ever suggested this. (Also, you make it really easy to make a crack about leftists and lead poisoning the way you phrased that statement, but I shall take the high road )

What has been suggested, is that the unholy trinity of CYA that is health-science, legislation, and regulation have pressed the issue far beyond the bounds of imminent threats to life and limb that justified their passage in the first place. All three of these groups seek to benefit by scare-mongering or concern-trolling the body politic into giving them more resources to continue what they do. All three of these groups are historically dominated by those who do not particularly sympathize or endorse the idea of an armed populace. Propensity for self-serving restrictions + anti-gun sentiment = propensity for self-serving gun restrictions.

It's naïve to simply reject such an obvious progression out of hand as mere 'right wing paranoia'

I'm sure we can find a few examples of lead-infested ranges and lead-infested range operators, shooters, and bullet casters. What we don't see is a common or systemic occurrence of the same. I'd be curious to know exactly what the rate of 'sleazy range' is, though, and how much is due to lack of regulation as opposed to violation or lack of enforcement of regulation. Different things, those, but too often confused by those who endorsed the rules in the first place.

As we all know, there is definitely a trend toward 'ratchet regulation' in environmental matters, just as there is in anti-gun measures. Why should it be any different when the two overlap? Would whatever restrictions the anti's or environmentalists cook up to solve the 'lead problem' really accomplish more than the one's already passed? Would 'even one life' really be saved? And even if so, at what cost to everybody else who is now subject to additional cost and restriction?

I know it is anathema, but the notion we should spend in order to defend against some identified risk simply because it exists is also naïve. The reason corporations seek to delay expenses on safety and emissions stuff until it effects the bottom line is because that is when these concerns actually transcend theory to become reality. Nothing wrong with acting only upon reality in concept, but that is where poorly run or corrupt organizations (private, corporate, and governmental) often fail; they don't notice when a problem is effecting them until it is doing grievous harm due to systemic sensory inefficiency. A well-run corporation is nothing more than an optimization routine for profitability. A well-run government organ is nothing more than an optimization routine for political favor. Without very careful and clever consideration, both are capable of failing to consider human interests sufficiently in their deliberations (arguably, the latter much more so)

Things to keep in mind.

TCB

 

[RustyShackelford]

Post #21.....

I agree with the remarks in post #21. The Times side article on the T&E of non-lead/lead free ammunition.
The issue to many US gun owners price. Expensive frangible or lead free bullets aren't cheap. Either to manufacture or buy.

Rusty

 

[hso]

What we don't see is a common or systemic occurrence of the same.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of ranges that have been cited for absent/inadequate employee health protection programs specific to lead where employees had elevated blood lead levels. Some of them were high enough to warrant reassignment of employees to prevent further exposure and others were approaching that level. See, I help indoor ranges prevent and fix such problems not just to keep them from being cited and fined, but to help them protect their employees from the very real hazard of becoming overexposed, note - over, to lead beyond the levels of the lead standard. BTW, the allowable blood lead level for trained personnel is MUCH higher than the average person.