Posted on 01/15/2008 6:02:24 AM PST by fweingart
OUR OPINION: SENATE MOVE TO CHANGE MODEST LIMITS IS PURELY POLITICAL
Welcome to the American national park system where the camper in the next space over may be packing heat. What a peaceful thought as you try to snooze under the stars.
Yet, there's a letter circulating in the U.S. Senate that has attracted 47 signatures including that of Florida Republican Mel Martinez, aimed at easing federal regulations on the carrying of firearms in national parks.
Consistent policy
Written by Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, the letter is directed to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and seems reasonable on its face. It would require the park system to recognize state firearms laws in national parks. This would make department policy consistent because state firearms laws apply on other Interior lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The proposal doesn't turn the national parks into a Wild West of gun-toting hikers, but it isn't necessary. Currently, the park system permits the presence of guns for authorized hunting and target shooting and allows park-goers to carry guns in car trunks or other areas of vehicles that aren't readily accessible. But holders of state gun permits aren't permitted to openly carry accessible weapons.
• First off, these are national parks with visitors from states throughout the nation with a variety of weapons laws. The interests of consistency should lie with all visitors at all national parks. It should be little more than a minor annoyance for, say, residents of states bordering Yellowstone to stow their rifles when driving through the park.
• Second, there simply is no good reason to have a weapon handy while visiting a park. The numbers of attacks by wild animals on park visitors complying with park rules and the dictates of common sense do not justify the danger to others of, say, city folk firing at strange noises in the night, which may be someone else at the campsite or a bear more interested in potato chips that weren't properly stowed than in human morsels in the tent.
• Third, national parks aren't hotbeds of crime, but they do suffer from an overtaxed ranger service that doesn't need more law-enforcement responsibilities. Throw in the accessibility of guns -- and the perception that it's OK to have guns in the parks -- with the mindlessness some display when on vacation, and the mix isn't pretty. Nor should rangers be faced with yet more complications for controlling illegal hunting and poaching in parks.
The current regulations have been in effect for more than two decades. Changing them doesn't solve a pressing problem in the parks; rather it serves only to make a political statement at the expense of the safety of people and the wildlife they come to see.
The last time I was in Yosemite Valley, there were indeed gang members present. They were very overt about it.
Good for you. Legislation and laws do not erase rights. Ever.
Add in a few more billions of pork in the form of Midnight Basket Ball.
Miami Herald, the readerless newspaper.
If a leftist opines alone in the forest does it really matter?
BINGO!!!!!!!!!
Need to put this in a postcard and send it to congress, and the Miami Herald...
I quit participating in a Trapper’s Rendezvous when the shooting contests were halted and you were not allowed to even demonstrate actually loading your muzzle-loader to the tourists (national Historic Site).
You ARE allowed to have them - locked up, unloaded, and stowed deeply in your vehicle.
Better to be tried by 12 than being eaten by a bear.
I did leave about the third comment on the Miami Herald’s discussion thread after the article. No signup or registration, just go to the link and leave a comment.
You hit the nail on the head with that one. NPS, USFWS, USFS, only care about their paycheck. A bunch of green liberals that are clueless how to take care of the enviroment. Look at the wolves in Yellowstone elk down from 19,000 to estimate 5000 now in a few more years the elk going to be endangered. But the beaver are back the liberals scream oh really where were they before? Think about it, where did they magically show up from ? They had to be in the park to begin with. The MSM media also forgot to tell you that YNP was closed 3 times this year from grizzly bear attacks. Just more proof that liberals love animals more then people.
Good for her! Smart lady.
Yeah, and she's a damned good shot, too. Her dad was competitive on the national level in target shooting when she was growing up. She had a really good teacher.....
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