How far will the National Rifle Association go to overthrow gun control measures? Apparently infiltrating groups who favor gun control isn't out of the question. Among the groups infiltrated? Apparently the National Parks Conservation Association.
Mother Jones magazine, in a story published Wednesday, reports that a woman known as Mary McFate has over the years worked undercover as an NRA mole who infiltrated gun control groups. Among the more recent targets was NPCA, which has been working for months against efforts by Interior Department officials to overturn gun regulations pertaining to weapons in the National Park System.
Under the current guidelines, weapons owned by licensed gun owners can be brought into the parks, but they have to be broken down and stored out of easy reach. Earlier this year, however, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed to replace that regulation with one that would allow park visitors to arm themselves around the clock if the laws of the state in which the park in question is found allowed.
What's not been answered is how rangers in park units that span multiple states -- such as Yellowstone, Death Valley, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Great Smoky Mountains -- would police gun laws if this proposal were embraced.
A source for the Mother Jones story, Barbara Hohlt, executive director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence, told the magazine that Ms. McFate's ears perked up when she heard about NPCA's opposition to the change.
McFate also took a keen interest in a gun matter currently under consideration by the Department of the Interior, Hohlt says. At the urging of the gun lobby, the agency has been mulling whether to change its regulations to allow people to carry loaded and concealed guns into national parks under certain circumstances. (At the moment, a gun carried into a national park must be unloaded and kept apart from ammunition.) The National Parks Conservation Association and current and former National Park Service officials have been fighting the proposed rule change. "When Mary heard about this," Hohlt recalls, "she immediately asked to be on the email list [of the opponents] and she also got on the phone calls. So she now knows the strategy of the people trying to fight this."
NPCA officials, understandably, are aghast at the possibility that their private deliberations have been overheard by a spy possibly working for the NRA. In a statement issued this afternoon the park advocacy group confirmed that Ms. McFate "has participated in multiple confidential conversations and email correspondence over the past few months about efforts to keep visitors and wildlife safe in our national parks."
Bryan Faehner, NPCA's legislation representative, adds that, "If the investigation by Mother Jones proves true, then the NRA will have effectively spied on our ongoing efforts to keep visitors and wildlife safe in our national parks. If true, this is a troubling display of the lengths to which the NRA will go to further its agenda."
Comments
Are NPCA officials also aghast at the idea of constitutional rights that apparently don't exists in parks and conservation areas? Given that the pen is mightier than the sword, shall we abolish the First Amendment in these places as well?
Persons properly licensed to carry a firearm pose exactly zero risk to anyone in national parks, just as they pose(if anything) only a positive force in the world at large.
Jack
>> Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed to replace that regulation
>> with one that would allow park visitors to arm themselves around the clock.
Obfuscation. The rule allows carry procedures and rules to match those of the state the park is located in. So those in opposition to this proposed rule chance are actually telling us that the People, working within the laws of their state can not be trusted to follow the laws of that state. They are saying we can’t govern ourselves and must be treated like serfs or peasants.
I don't think so.
Thanks anon, it wasn't intentional. I'll fix it. Still, how many states with concealed carry place time restraints on that privilege?
The comments to this story make it clear that the NRA is also hard at work responding to blog stories that paint them in a negative light, diverting attention away from their devious schemes to undermine democracy with obfuscating platitudes about constitutional rights and scare tactics about free speech. It seems that gun and ammo profits make for a lot of firepower to defeat those of us believe in the possibility of a more peaceful, nonviolent world.
Bryan Faehner spins well. His phrasing make the NRA sound so much worse than perhaps :
"If the investigation by Mother Jones proves true, then the NRA will have effectively spied on our ongoing efforts to keep visitors unarmed against possible dangers in our national parks, even if they have the right to carry elsewhere in the state. If true, this is a troubling display of the lengths to which the NRA will go to further its agenda."
Kurt, re: parks that span states: Different states have different laws regarding theft, assault, etc. What happens in those parks now for those things? I assume that (to pick Great Smokey Mountain NP) While in TN, TN laws would apply and while in NC, NC laws would apply. So to walk trail that goes through both states, you would need concealed carry rights in both states. Fortunately, many states have a reciprocity clause built in to their CC laws stating that they will recognize the concealed carry rights affirmed by another state if the other state will recognize theirs.
Mark
Mark, re multiple states, I'd offer that it's not as easy as you paint it. While there are reciprocity in many states, not all states offer the same, and so rangers in parks that span two states would not only have to be well-familiar with both states' laws, but also know in which state they're in, and in the backcountry that could at times be problematic.
But, alas, I've been through this debate too many times to want to repeat it verbatim.
Kurt,
I understand the difficulty of a ranger knowing which state he is in (although less so than before GPS was an option) , but isn't this an issue with any law that might be different between the two states?
Another Voice,
You seem to be in "don't bother me, my mind is made up mode", but for what it is worth, while I am an NRA life member, I saw this not because of the NRA but because I have National Parks Traveler on my Yahoo page.
Do you have any examples of devious schemes to undermine democracy. I personally fail to what is obfuscating about referring to the supreme law of the land, the Constitution. And, as far as things being scary goes, if the 2nd Amendment is ignored with impunity, I doubt that the 1st will remain strong.
Mark