Judge allows test bullets at N. Chicago shooting range

A federal judge has given permission to a firearms expert to use luminescent tracer bullets during a test at the FBI's shooting range in North Chicago.

U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Guzman made the ruling Wednesday in the case of the environmental group Blue Eco Legal Council, which has filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the discharge of lead bullets into Lake Michigan.

FBI officials had offered to conduct the test without using tracer ammunition, contending it's rarely used at the training facility. An estimated 650,000 rounds of ammunition are fired annually at the range by about 2,500 FBI agents and police officers, records show.

Steven Pollack of Blue Eco Legal Council contends the bullets are landing in the lake, creating a potential danger to the environment and North Chicago's water supply.