Outdoor Odyssey

Taking a break and coming in from the 100 degree afternoon and checking my e-mail, I was very pleased to see that I had received a reply from Senator John Cornyn to my July 6, e-mail about OSHA's Proposed Regulation 2007-0032 regarding the control of ammunition, powder and primers.

Folks, we have a friend in Senator Cornyn. He also was one of the leaders in defeating the Amnesty (Immigration) Bill. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of our senators would take the approach of thinking what is best for our Country and its citizens!

His e-mail reply follows:


“Dear Mr. and Mrs. Bryan:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposal for new regulations for workplace handling and storage of explosives. I appreciate having the benefit of your comments on this matter.

As you may know, OSHA’s mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths by issuing and enforcing standards for workplace safety and health. In accordance with federal regulatory procedure, OSHA posted its proposed explosives regulation (Docket # OSHA-2007-0032) in the Federal Register and will accept public comments until September 10, 2007. Before moving forward OSHA will review all comments and decide whether changes are necessary based on the feedback received.

As vice-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus and an avid hunter, I am always concerned by federal attempts to further regulate hunters, firearms, and related businesses. Many hunters, hand loaders, and small business owners are rightly concerned how new regulations may affect them and, in this case, precisely how OSHA plans to define explosives. The federal government heavily regulates the explosives industry, but in many cases provides explicit exemptions for small arms ammunition, powder, primers, and percussion caps. It is worth noting that OSHA specifically requested public comments regarding inclusion of similar exemptions, and I will continue monitoring the development of OSHA regulations to ensure that the government recognizes our right to keep and bear arms, both in policy and in practice.

I invite you to monitor and comment on this and other regulatory proposals by visiting http://www.regulations.gov. You can be certain I will continue upholding the Second Amendment rights of hunters and other sportsmen in Texas. I appreciate having the opportunity to represent you in the United States Senate. Thank you for taking the time to contact me.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator”

"Desert Rat Blog", http://www.arizonahuntingtoday.com/desertrat/ , has a great post, “Et Tu OSHA”, about proposed new regulations that affect each hunter, shooter and law abiding citizen.  At lunch today I also heard Rush Limbaugh mention the regulation.  He mentioned that the NRA is hot after these regulations.

OSHA is proposing a “sneaky” way of achieving a form of gun control. Control the ammunition. They propose to classify powder and primers as explosives. The proposal includes:

1. Prohibit possession of firearms in commercial “facilities containing explosives”—an obvious problem for your local gun store.
2. Prohibit delivery drivers from leaving explosives unattended—which would make it impossible for delivery services such as UPS to deliver ammunition or gun powder.
3. Require evacuation of all “facilities containing explosives”—even your local Wal-Mart—during any electrical storm.
4. Prohibit smoking within 50 feet of “facilities containing explosive”.

The public comment period ends July 12. To file your own comment, or to learn more about the OSHA proposal, go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket Number OSHA-2007-0032. You can read OSHA’s proposal and learn how to submit comments electronically, or by fax or mail.

I went through all of this and left the following comment.

I am against the classification of powder and primers as explosives
and the rules applied to them in this proposed regulation.  This smacks
as a sneaky form of gun control.

Ammunition for personal firearms should be exempted.

Why doesn’t OSHA just ban smoking anywhere?

I’m also e-mailing our President and my senators to squash this very liberal move!