Old habits die hard. We remember, years ago, talking to the late Steve Browne of Knox about his work at the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation as a waterfowl specialist.

When Mr. Browne died in 2012, his successor, Bryan Swift, described him as “a combination of scientist and diplomat.” One of the sweeping changes Mr. Browne brought about was controversial — the transition from lead shot to steel pellets for hunting waterfowl. The traditional lead shot was poisoning ducks that would pick through the mud and use the shot for grit for their digestion. Steel pellets had been developed in the 1970s but were unpopular with hunters; they had to learn to shoot differently.

“The mortality factor wasn’t obvious,” said Mr. Swift, and many hunters were set in their ways, not wanting to learn new techniques.

“Steve had to lead the educational campaign to inform hunters and get them to switch. There was a lot of resistance,” recalled Mr. Swift. “He took it to the masses, and was very involved in building grassroots acceptance. Ultimately, in 1988, it was made mandatory. But it took a toll on him.” Three years later, the ban was adopted nationwide.

“He was a very intense man,” said Mr. Swift. “He had a strong passion for what he believed in.”

We could use someone like that now — someone who cares enough about hunting and wildlife to promote changes that may, at first, be unpopular.

Objections raised at recent town board meetings in Knox over the gun club there stirred us to look not just at the complaints raised by neighbors about long hours and too much noise — see our story by Hilltown reporter Tim Tulloch — but also to take a look at a less obvious but more lethal problem: lead poisoning. Reporter H. Rose Schneider has researched the correlation between the use of lead bullets and lead poisoning.

We are not opposed to firing ranges. They are essential for the training of police officers and members of the military. They are useful for people with permits who practice so that they can protect themselves. They are also enjoyed as social venues for those who like to hunt or those who simply like to shoot for sport.

The problem comes with the ammunition. Lead is poisonous to both people and animals. Production of lead-based ammunition — over 60,000 metric tons in 2012 —is second only to storage-battery production for the use of lead in the United States.

When the trigger on a gun is pulled, residue with lead escapes near the hammer. Residue with lead is also expelled as the bullet leaves the gun barrel. And then a trail of lead residue is left in the air and on the ground after the empty casing is discharged.

Outside of work, shooting firearms is the most common way of getting lead poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recent research has raised concerns regarding the toxicity of blood lead levels as low as 5 micrograms per deciliter of blood.

What’s more, if the lead isn’t cleaned from the grounds of a firing range, it remains in the soil where it can leach to water sources.

When a shooter leaves the range to hunt for game, lead can easily enter the food chain and is often in the meat eaten by the hunter and his or her family. A study by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources showed that fragments from lead rifle ammunition can peel off and become lodged in tissue as far as 14 inches from where the bullet entered. The small bullet fragments are often not seen or felt when butchering an animal.

What should be a healthy, natural way to eat — say, venison — becomes instead a source of poisoning. Symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may include tingling in the hands and feet, irritability, memory loss, and inability to have children; although lead can affect any of the body’s organ systems, the brain is the organ most sensitive to lead poisoning.

There are no federal or state regulations for gun ranges. John Martin, a regional spokesman for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, said there had been an initiative to encourage ranges to be environmentally conscious, but it ended in 2008. We urge the local firing ranges in our midst to use these practices, including netting or other barriers to prevent lead bullets from entering the water or ground, and disposing of lead as hazardous waste.

And, we urge gun clubs, like the one in Knox, that have indoor ranges to follow the regulations set out by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration — monitoring the air for lead, providing adequate ventilation and gear to make cleanup safe.

Workers at gun ranges can seek protection from OSHA but the firing ranges in our coverage area are largely managed by volunteers and so are not required to follow OSHA regulations.

We believe, just as it took time to enact regulations to prevent the harm that comes from lead in paint or lead in water, it will take time to raise awareness about the importance of protecting public health from the lead in ammunition. But, the sooner and harder we push, the sooner we will all be safer.

We urge those who regularly use such firing ranges to take matters into their own hands: Get your blood levels tested.

A simple solution exists: Use bullets that aren’t made of lead.

Russell Kuhlman, the non-lead ammunition outreach coordinator for the Institute for Wildlife Studies, told us that non-lead ammunition got a bad reputation in the 1980s for being high-priced and inaccurate, having a tendency to foul the barrel. But, since then, manufacturers undertook extensive research and development, solving many of the problems with inaccuracy and dropping the price of non-lead ammunition.

Federal, Hornady, Winchester, and Remington all make non-lead bullets that cost the same as high-quality lead bullets. We urge the shooters in our midst to give them a try.

As we said at the outset, old habits die hard, but old habits, like using lead bullets, can also kill us. Not only do they wreak havoc by poisoning animals — birds and mammals that feed on the carcasses they find — but they poison people, too.

We need to channel the sort of passion that Steve Browne had to make the world safer for both wildlife and people.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer