Europe's Parliament Cleared a Lead Gunshot Ban. Bullets Are Still in the Gun.
On 8 October 2026 the European Parliament let an EU lead-gunshot restriction proceed. Seven-year transition. Bullets excluded. Not yet in the Official Journal.
The restriction is on track, not yet in the Official Journal, and it does not cover rifle bullets
On 8 October 2026 the European Parliament rejected attempts to block a European Commission restriction on lead gunshot. BirdLife International said two objections, tabled by members of the European Conservatives and Reformists and Patriots for Europe, failed. One had already been defeated in the environment committee on Monday. The plenary result puts the restriction on track for adoption.
Lead was taken out of petrol, paint and pipes because it is toxic and because scientists have said for more than 30 years that there is no safe level of exposure. Gunshot is a different mess. A cartridge throws dozens or hundreds of pellets across a field, a marsh or a wood. They are not collected. Birds swallow grit to grind food and mistake the pellets for stones. One pellet can kill a bird. BirdLife says this pollution puts at least 92 bird species at risk and kills about a million birds a year, and that more than 44,000 tonnes of lead still enter the EU each year from hunting, sport shooting and fishing.
The restriction, once in force, would ban lead gunshot across the landscape, not only in wetlands, including sport shooting, with a seven-year transition. It would apply in the EU, the European Economic Area and Northern Ireland. Wetland restrictions have applied in all 27 member states since 15 February 2023. Earlier in 2026 Parliament also moved to restrict lead in fishing tackle.
FACE, the European hunting federation, said no objections were supported and that the text hunters will live with is narrower than the early draft: the transition grew from three years to seven, and bullets and slugs were removed. FACE expects publication in the Official Journal in the coming weeks. Its president, Laurens Hoedemaker, said the seven years have to be used to get non-lead shot, information and practical support to hunters.
BirdLife policy officer Marion Bessol called the vote a significant win for vultures, eagles, swans and for children who eat game, and said the group will keep working until bullets are covered. Bullets are a smaller tonnage and a nastier food-chain problem: scavengers, including the bearded vulture, are poisoned by contaminated remains and gut piles. Brown bears are exposed the same way.
Public roll-call sites do not agree on the exact tally. This piece does not pick one.
Key Facts
- Plenary: 8 October 2026, Strasbourg
- Seven-year transition; bullets and slugs excluded
- Wetland lead-shot ban in force since 15 February 2023
- BirdLife: more than 44,000 tonnes of lead a year from hunting, sport shooting and fishing; about 1 million birds killed a year; 92 species at risk
- FACE: scrutiny closed 10 October; Official Journal publication still ahead
- Sources: BirdLife International, FACE
Why This Matters
Chemical bans that already happened (petrol, paint, pipes) make the remaining use look like an oversight. It was a lobby. The parliament stopped blocking. Implementation, and the bullet gap, are the next argument, not a reason to pretend nothing moved.
What We Don't Know Yet
The regulation is not yet published in the Official Journal, so the start of the seven years is not a date we can print. Vote-count websites disagree, so we are not quoting a margin. Enforcement will be national. A restriction that is not checked becomes scrap metal in a ditch.