National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan has asked Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne not to change regulations pertaining to guns in the national parks.
The parks advocacy group is just the latest to respond to an effort by 47 U.S. senators to have Secretary Kempthorne make it possible for folks who are permitted to carry concealed weapons to carry them in the parks. Already the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees and the Association of National Park Rangers have opposed the senators.
"On its face, the senators' letter misinterprets or ignores the precise requirements of the regulation," Mr. Kiernan said in a letter sent January 16 to the Interior secretary. "In fact, the regulation does not 'prohibit' individuals from possessing a firearm on park lands as the senators allege in their letter. Rather, the salient language provides that, 'Unloaded weapons, traps and nets MAY BE POSSESSED: (i) within a residential dwelling. (ii) within a temporary lodging or mechanical mode of conveyance when such implements are rendered inoperable or packed, cased or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use.'"
As with the ANPR, Mr. Kiernan noted that not all federal lands were intended to be managed in the same manner.
"Firearm rules that make sense for multiple-use BLM land in the West are certainly not appropriate for the White House, Independence Hall, the Statue of Liberty, the National Mall, or in the valley of Yosemite," he said. "There are, of course, many park units where hunting is specifically authorized and permitted and different firearms rules appropriately apply in those areas."
The NPCA leader also questioned the perceived hardship the current regulations have on gun owners.
"Unloading and putting away guns by those who elect to enter a national park where hunting is not permitted is really no more onerous a limitation on the rights of law-abiding citizens than requiring those who wish to enter a federal building to be searched or pass through a metal detector, nor is it as restrictive," said Mr. Kiernan.
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"The text of the Second Amendment is, 'A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'"
Where does it say, ".........on federal land"? Where does it say, ".....However, such rights may be infringed on private land or in federal buildings, or by state and local governments"? (Federal buildings, last I checked, were on federal land BTW.)
Are you SURE that my arguments ignore the intentions of the founding fathers. Many scholars believe that the INTENT was that members of an organized militia could bear arms...not necessarily the general public. I tend to agree that the intent was the general public, but this has never been settled. One could even argue, I imagine, that within the National Park the Park Service rangers ARE the "militia".
I only used Disneyland as an example of a place, just like our National Parks, that has millions of visitors every year, and where we take our children to recreate.
This law, as it stands, is pretty much an honor system "don't ask, don't tell" law anyway. If you have a gun under your jacket (because you simply can't go anywhere without your security blanket), no one is going to pat you down. No one is going to search your car (without just cause). I'm not an idiot. I know that lots of people are, no doubt, already carrying loaded weapons in parks...just as they do everywhere. NO ONE IS TAKING ANYONE'S GUNS AWAY FROM THEM!! However, the law as it stands, makes them think very hard about firing it or brandishing it. That whole "federal offense" thing. (Yes I know that most gun owners are responsible....those individuals who are responsible for making gun related deaths the second most common cause (behind automobile accidents) of unnatural death in the United States are not.)
Our National Parks are sacred places. The last thing that we want is for them to start looking like many of our National Forests and BLM lands: signs shot full of holes, squirrels and birds with their heads blown off, rusty tin cans full of holes along trails. My opinion is that this law should remain unchanged. You are entitled to your's
Thank you, Kurt, for letting me ramble on with these long comments. I promise I'm done now!