"A near majority of the Senate..." are for repealing ban on guns in national parks
w...@where.com
over the parks, it makes sense to give the honest visitor or hiker an
even 'shot' at defending themeselves. Especially when cell phones are
rendered useless by lack of receiving towers in the forests, plus the
fact of the towering trees blocking the cell phone signal to start
with.)
http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/501796.html
Feds ready to ease national parks firearm ban
By RICHARD SIMON and JUDY PASTERNAK Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON | In a victory for gun rights advocates, the federal
government is preparing to relax a decades-old ban on bringing loaded
firearms into national parks.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Friday that his department would
suggest new regulations by the end of April that could bring federal
rules into line with state laws concerning guns in parks and public
lands. His announcement came in a letter to 51 senators who have written
to him about the issue. A near majority of the Senate, including
Democrats and Republicans from Western states, has backed a drive to
repeal the ban, which has been in place in some parks for at least 100
years.
The proposed rule change might let visitors carry loaded weapons into
national parks in states with few gun restrictions, such as Montana.
Gun rights advocates, notably the National Rifle Association, have said
the ban infringes on their Second Amendment rights to bear arms and
their ability to defend themselves from predators, human and animal.
If you’re hiking in the backcountry and there is a problem with a
criminal or an aggressive animal, there’s no 911 box where you can call
police and have a 60-second response time, said Gary Marbut, president
of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. Here in Montana, we are very
used to being able to provide for our own personal protection.
Kempthorne’s decision to review the ban was hailed by the NRA. This is
an important step in the right direction, said the organization’s chief
lobbyist, Chris W. Cox.
On the other hand, the National Parks Conservation Association called
Kempthorne’s action alarming. Tom Kiernan, the group’s president, said a
loosening of the ban would be a blow to the national parks and the 300
million visitors who enjoy them every year.
His view is echoed by gun-control advocates and some rangers who say
permitting firearms would be dangerous for visitors and wildlife and
would alter the national park experience.
“Parks have long been sanctuaries for both animals and people, said
Butch Farabee, a former acting superintendent at Montana’s Glacier
National Park who is retired. There need to be places in this country
where people can feel secure without guns and know that the guy in the
campground across the way does not have one.
The federal government would not cede authority over firearms in
national parks to the states, said Interior Department spokesman Chris
Paolino, but would like to reflect the policies of host states. In
drafting proposed new rules, Paolino said, the department also would
take into consideration the ban on firearms in federal buildings.
It’s important to note this is the beginning of the process, Paolino
added.
Weapons originally were prohibited in national parks to prevent
opportunistic poaching of wildlife, said Frank Buono, a former assistant
superintendent of California’s Joshua Tree National Park.
A 1908 Yellowstone National Park regulation, for example, required that
visitors having firearms, traps, nets, seines or explosives surrender
them at the entrance unless they received written permission from the
park superintendent. A similar policy was in effect at most parks for
decades. Then the Reagan administration in 1983 required that visitors
unload and store their firearms before entering most national parks.
Supporters of the repeal effort note that state gun laws currently apply
to federal land managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land
Management, and they see no reason why that should not be the case in
national parks and wildlife refuges.