• A federal judge ruled late last week that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has a right, under federal law, to intervene in an environmental group’s lawsuit seeking to ban lead hunting ammunition in Arizona’s condor region.
• The NRA says that it will now be able “to defend hunter’s rights against the claims of extremist environmental groups that filed the lawsuit.”
• As reported in November, the NRA had requested court approval to intervene in this lawsuit, which was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the same group whose lawsuit pressured California to pass the law requiring non-lead hunting ammunition in its Condor Territory.
• The CBD lawsuit sues the federal Bureau of Land Management and the Arizona Department of Fish and Game for allegedly violating the Endangered Species Act by allowing hunters to use lead shot and lead bullets while hunting in the range of the condor in Arizona.
• As you know, Arizona currently runs a voluntary non-lead hunting ammunition program in its condor region, in which hunters are reimbursed for the cost of their non-lead hunting ammo.