EPA to Fisherman- We Control You

The EPA has decided to exercise its authority granted to it by Article I, section 50 of the US Constitution, which says that "An unelected agency of bureaucrats shall have the power to outlaw lead weights and sinkers and bullets." Coming soon, a package of a dozen common lead fishing weights will jump from $7 to $20 for a dozen composite alternative weights, or if you use a common lead sinker which runs $0.05 it'll jump to $4 a piece for a tungsten sinker. The EPA says that it is going to considerably raise the cost to fish for both commercial and amateur fisherman this because it feels that too many fish and birds are dying of lead poisoning.

Right now if you snag your line deep water, you just cut it off and move on. Probably not the most environmentally friendly way to go. In the future though, cutting that line will cost you $5-$10 bucks, which might tempt you to go into deeper water to retrieve that line. My prediction- this ban by the EPA is going to increase drowning deaths in fisherman. But the EPA doesn't care- to the liberals who run that organization, one bird is worth ten human lives (for example, the EPA forces carmakers to build lighter cars of weaker materials, leading to a thousand-fold increase in car crash deaths each year, just to 'fight global warming'.)

This sort of overreach by a bureaucratic agency is increasingly indicative of a tyrannical government. Government exists to protect your life, to protect your right to live in liberty and freedom, and to protect your right to keep and own property. All proposed laws must be judged under those obligations. This proposed EPA ban on lead weights and bullets could lead to a loss of life to humans, it controls people and takes away their freedom to choose, and it prevents people from owning and using certain types of property. I understand that too many anglers and fisherman and hunters leave an occasional lead weight laying around, but an outright ban by the EPA is not correct action to this.

The EPA released as statement on August 27 saying that it thinks it has the jurisdiction to make a decision regarding the control of fishing tackle in the entire United States, although it did say that for now it doesn't think it has the authority to ban types of ammunition it doesn't like. This is no longer a republic of laws when a bureaucratic agency decides what sorts of powers over the people of America it thinks it has or doesn't have- those actions are more strongly associated with two-bit tyrannical dictatorships.

Lawmakers, duly elected members of our country, should meet and discuss this in an open environment, and after considering all the options and hearing all the arguments, pass a law then. And it shouldn't be federal lawmakers either- this isn't a federal issue and the federal government has no constitutional power in this area, so since this is a state issue, state lawmakers should be the ones discussing this.

This discussion on the banning of lead weights in fishing is indicative of the larger battle that is going on in our nation today- a battle between unlimited government that violates life, liberty, and property, and those who want a limited republic of the laws that protects life, liberty, and property. Make sure in the coming election you put the correct bunch of people in power.