Coast Guard proposes live gun practice on Great Lakes.

[greatauntoftriplets]

:mad:

READY, AIM, MISFIRE
Coast Guard's proposal to test guns on Great Lakes hits waves of opposition from Congress, boaters

By Michael Hawthorne
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 2, 2006

The Coast Guard has been quietly planning to conduct target practice on Lake Michigan with boat-mounted machine guns that would be fired a few miles from beaches along the North Shore.

But plans to establish a permanent "live-fire zone" in waters near Highland Park, Lake Forest and Waukegan--and in 33 other spots around the Great Lakes--are on hold after boating groups and an influential member of Congress complained that the public wasn't informed about the exercises.

The proposal, so unusual it required changes to a nearly 200-year-old disarmament treaty with Canada, is raising concerns that recreational boaters might unwittingly cross into the live-fire zones or get hit by stray bullets. Car ferries that operate in the summer between Wisconsin and Michigan also would pass through the zones.

Environmental groups, meanwhile, are concerned that lead and other metals in the bullets could add more toxic pollution to the Great Lakes.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0609020151sep02,1,6967460.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

[cornermouse]

1. That should do wonders for the Great Lakes tourism industry.

See the Great Lakes and get shot... Yep...

[kurth]

2. "Coast Guard mows down fishermen with machine guns"

may be a future headline.

[greatauntoftriplets]

3. There are also international implications...

since the only lake entirely within the United States is Lake Michigan. Canada can't be very happy about this, even though the sites for the target practice are close to the US shore.