I really thought this was an onion headline or something. Safe gun storage leads to less lead in children... haha... but no, for real for real.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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lead poisonining is the least of your worries when it can just kill you right away from a high velocity.
That almost certainly has nothing to do with storage and instead is about frequency of shooting.
People that have one gun locked in safe that never gets open, aren't shooting it.
Someone doing a weekly range trip is going to bring home a bunch of lead dust regardless of how they store the gun.
We really need to get away from lead in firearms
We also really need to normalize lead management. When I went shooting in scouts as a kid I learned all the responsible gun operation saftey stuff, but never even thought about the lead exposure till I was an adult
I'd never even heard of de-leading products for getting yourself cleaned up after shooting until deviant ollam on YouTube talked about them in passing in a video
(great channel by the way, it's hard to find any folks who talk about guns online that a turbo chud)
Edit: misspelled "deviant" lol
JaredAF has really good videos on this, and he measured his lead exposure - it was scary!
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Copper for slugs, while more expensive has a risk level close to 0 in comparison to lead. It also has excellent ballistic properties and will expand properly with designs like hollow points
It's actually not the projectile that causes most of the lead exposure for shooters. It's the cartridge primers, they use lead styphnate for their explosive. Copper bullets are mainly to not spread lead through the environment where it can harm wildlife, and to avoid the risk of consuming lead in shot animals.
Tungsten, too.
The problem is really the cost. To go to the range and spend $30 would instead cost $150. I think the average person would buy the lead.
I'll ask a friend of mine who worked at a range recently to see what people are spending.
Shooting a gun probably "should* cost more money
Per friend: -$35 a person $12 for the second and ammo varies wildly. They start about $20/$30 a box for 9mm 50 rounds, but most people use 1/2 boxes ler trip"
Also, per them, tungsten is a no-no due to its armor-piercing abilities.
$20 for 50 rounds of 9mm is exceptionally high. 20-25 cents per round for target ammo is closer to reality. https://ammoseek.com/ammo/9mm-luger
It's probably the cost buying from the range. Might also be regional. I'm going to keep replying to myself.
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Aren't expanding bullets horrible and should be illegal?
No. They keep the projectile from over-penetrating the intended target.
Isn't it better to have penetration without a bunch of shards?
Most traditional hollowpoints aren't designed to break apart into shrapnel. They're designed to expand in a controlled manner. The FBI protocol is that it should expand after passing through four layers of cloth (denim, fleece, cotton, and something else), then penetrate between 12 and 18 inches through standardized ballistics gel.
A non expanding bullet might get double that much penetration if it doesn't start tumbling. Projectiles designed for large, dangerous game are designed for no expansion and maximum penetration. It all depends on what the goal is.
There's a lot of youtube where people have put that kind of stuff to the test if you want to dig. There are a few results out there that are non-intuitive. For example, a regular 38 special hollow point out of a modern revolver often doesn't get enough velocity to expand, so the cavity will fill up with cloth and over penetrate the gel even though it's substantially less powerful than a 9mm.
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While I agree with you to an extent, I bet many people who use gun safes properly are also mindful of cleaning themselves and their clothing after shooting.
At least, that's what I do.
While I agree with you to an extent, I bet many people who use gun safes properly are also mindful of cleaning themselves and their clothing after shooting.
...
Yeah, no one ever said they didn't. Or that any group was the same.
My point was that storage method didn't matter.
Any correlation is likely because someone who buys a gun and only plans to touch it "when they need it" are going to likely keep it in a safe.
Regardless of how well you think you're cleaning yourself tho, you're being lead home from shooting. It takes a lot to actually mitigate it, and even if you think you are, you're not.
I know, I was just pointing out that there are careful gun owners out there who also take into account cleaning lead.
And yes, I'm aware it's not perfect, but it greatly reduces the exposure
Why not just get rid of firearms completely?
Well one would take a single federal law to change. Simple majority and signed by the president. The other requires 2/3rds of congress to agree or 2/3rds of states to agree. Nearly impossible
Yeah, this is America (Woo, ayy)
Guns in my area (Word, my area)
I got the strap (Ayy, ayy)
I gotta carry 'em
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Proper gun regulations will reduce lead in children, as well.
Or, cognitive impairment from lead poisoning leads to unsafe gun storage.
They were measuring lead in infants under 36 months old.
Are you suggesting toddlers are losing their ability to safely store firearms or did you just not read the article?
Hes suggesting infants with elevated blood lead levels probably have parents with elevated levels.
I mean, have you ever seen a baby properly store a firearm? Exactly.
E: ban all babies! Ban all babies!
TBF I've never seen a baby improperly store a firearm either.
The last guy didn't live to tell the tale.
Are babies blood-thirsty murders? More at 10.
It was a joke. But lead is in the environment. If toddlers are exposed to it, chances are the parents are too.
I think he is saying the parents have lead impaired thinking and thus are not good at storing the weapons?
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Americans having lead poisoning from too many guns checks right the fuck out
edit: People upvoting comments that clearly didn't read the article also checks the fuck out
But what if the government wants stupid children? I mean, the current government would not stand a chance if the population was not that stupid on average.
But what? Omit the first 4 words of that comment and it's essentially gospel.
The bulk of the current crop of voters (approaching or in retirement) grew up in peak-lead in the air from gasoline... they've got a few years before they age out.
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