.

Back in November 16, 2006 Senator George Allen introduced S. 4057, “A bill to protect the second amendment rights of individuals to carry firearms in units of the National Park System. This bill was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where it apparently died.

Fast forward a year and we now have a letter dated 12/14/2007 which is signed by 47 senators (strange that Sen. Allen was not one of them) addressed to the Honorable Dick Kempthorne, Secretary, Department of the Interior seeking to allow “exception to 36 CFR 2.4 and 50 CRF 27.42 to allow law-abiding citizens to transport and carry firearms consistent with state law where the National Park Service’s site and the National Wildlife Refuges are located.” The letter continues, “Such regulatory changes would respect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, while providing a consistent application of state weapons laws across all land ownership boundaries.”
The NRA-ILA (National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action) is claiming they initiated the letter and worked closely with Idaho Senator Crapo and his getting the 47 Senators to sign the letter. Please take a look at the letter and see if both your Senators are there. If not, please contact those that aren’t and ask them to support this initiative. The results of this letter, if implemented would allow state law to govern the carrying and transportation of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges, as is the case of national forests and BLM lands.

Of course this policy should have been implemented years ago. There is no reason that law-abiding citizens, particularly with Concealed Carry permits, shouldn’t be in possession of firearms for protection or transport. It’s about the Second Amendment!

Here is a anti-leaning write-up of the above in time.com dated 12/21 by Pat Dawson entitled “The Gun Lobby Targets Yellowstone” (a more friendly write-up can be seen here):

For more than 20 years, people have been prohibited from openly carrying firearms in most of America’s national parks. Rangers argue that the rule cuts down on the potential hazards to wildlife as well as to visitors in the congested parks. But now, 47 Senators have signed on to a letter to the Interior Department requesting an end to the ban on firearms. Initiated by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, the letters other signatories include Montana’s two Democratic Senators — Max Baucus, who is up for re-election, and Jon Tester — as well as the entire delegations of Wyoming and Idaho.

Technically, you can drive through a national park with a firearm, as long as it’s not loaded and not readily accessible in order to prevent poaching and accidental shootings. But now the Senators want the law loosened to allow Winchester-toting, pistol-packin’ visitors to enjoy the national park, without feeling as if they were somehow engaging in an illegal act. The change in the regulations would most immediately benefit pro gun-rights constituents who live near Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton national parks, allowing them not only to bring in their weapons but display them as openly as they would outside the parks. Currently, the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, where the parks are located, have no restrictive gun laws. They also have a preponderance of voters favoring liberalized gun-possession laws.

The rationale for requesting the change? “These regulations infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners, who wish to transport and carry firearms on or across these lands,” the letter said, pointing out that the laws discriminate even against citizens with valid concealed weapons permits. It asked that the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service allow transporting and carrying of firearms on their lands in accordance with the laws of the host state. “These inconsistencies in firearms regulations for public lands are confusing, burdensome and unnecessary,” the letter said. It added that such a change of rules for parks and nature refuges “would respect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, while providing a consistent application of state weapon laws across all land ownership boundaries.”

In a message to its members this week, the National Rifle Association said, “The NRA initiated and worked closely with Senator Crapo on this letter and appreciates his bipartisan effort…. We have been working for nearly five years to change this policy and applaud the strong Senate support for this policy change expressed in this letter.” Among the other Senators whose signatures appear on the letter: Republicans Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, John McCain of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; and Democrats Tim Johnson of North Dakota, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Senator Baucus’s spokesman Barrett Kaiser said there’s “no reason that law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be allowed to carry a firearm on our public lands…. Max thinks it’s a matter of Second Amendment rights, and it’s also the right thing to do for people who simply want to cross through our parks to access prime hunting areas,” he said.

“The Second Amendment is not an issue in Yellowstone National Park,” says Deputy Chief Ranger Tim Reid. “You can legally possess an unloaded firearm,” stored in the vehicle. {And this is going to do what Reid? It makes the firearm inaccessible, which is what you want. That is NOT in alignment with the 2nd Amendment.} He says Yellowstone has about 30 firearms cases a year already, including wildlife poaching, but noted that crime relative to numbers of visitors is a fraction of the national average. In 2006, out of 2.8 million visitors, 260 people were arrested in Yellowstone on a variety of charges. “The way the regulation works now seems effective from our point of view,” says Rick Obernesser, Yellowstone’s chief law enforcement ranger. Added Special Agent in Charge Brian Smith: “That’s an expectation when you come into most parks — that guns aren’t loaded and in the racks.” The rangers declined to comment on how their jobs could change if guns are allowed, except to say, according to Obernesser, “If it’s changed, we will make that one work.”

Laura Loomis, senior director of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, said it supports the current regulations and opposes change, saying her organization “believes that changing this regulation would further strain underfunded and understaffed Park Service rangers, and cause increased intentional and unintentional visitor injury. It may also lead to increased incidences of poaching of park wildlife.” Says Loomis: “There is no reason for a thoughtful sportsman to carry a loaded gun unless in a park area that permits hunting.” {Question Loomis. Who died and left you interpretor of our 2nd Amendment rights? There is no reason for a law abiding NOT to carry any where. Particularly those who carry concealed. The 2nd Amendment is NOT just about hunting Loomis!}

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This article is copyright © 2007, by Gary Shumway. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce and distribute it electronically and in print, other than as part of a book and provided that mention of the author’s web site www.redpills.org is included. (Email notification is requested.) All other rights reserved. Gary Shumway is the author of Winging Through America and SCUBA Scoop.