Sometimes it is difficult to determine what is misinformation and what is not, but laws restricting the use of personal firearms are generally not good, even in parks, particularly for folks venturing into the back country (or in certain parts of our very own Parkway where the knowledgeable trekker is packing) where one’s personal safety is often dependent upon one’s own resources.
Editorial: Keep sensible rules on guns in national parks
A misinformation campaign in the Senate pushes a dangerous amendment forward
Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, February 5, 2008
When visitors go to a national park in the United States, signs tell them that loaded guns are prohibited and must be stored. Guns must be out of sight and not pointed at a person or wildlife. This is perfectly sensible. In our national parks, wildlife is protected and visitors have a right to safety.
Nonetheless, for the last five years, the National Rifle Association has been trying unsuccessfully to reverse these rules. Now, by spreading misinformation about gun rules in the national parks, a handful of senators has somehow managed to get 47 senators to sign on to a Dec. 14 letter seeking to overturn the national parks rules on loaded guns.
That letter falsely states that people currently are prohibited from transporting guns in national parks. In fact, the rules simply require that guns in the national parks be unloaded and stored. Hunters can transport their unloaded hunting rifles through a national park to hunting grounds. This is well known and has not been a problem. The 59 national park units that allow hunting allow hunters to carry loaded weapons during hunting season.
This week, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., plans to try to pass an amendment, from the Senate floor and without committee hearings, that would overturn the national parks gun rules. He would do this by attempting to attach it to an important and noncontroversial bill (S. 2483) authorizing projects in the national parks, national forests and other public lands. Or some other bill.
