Not a bad show
Posted on 03/05/2008 8:36:13 AM PST by XR7
How do you feel about allowing loaded guns in our national parks? Do you feel the need to pack heat while wandering the wildflower meadows of Paradise on Mount Rainier? Are you determined to protect yourself against overly aggressive squirrels at Hurricane Ridge? As you may have heard, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has agreed to modify existing rules that prohibit people from carrying loaded weapons in the national parks. The new rules will be ready for public comment by the end of April [289K PDF].
The push comes from the U.S. Senate. Fifty senators added their signatures to a letter by Sen. Michael Crapo of Idaho to Kempthorne (the former Idaho governor of Idaho), pressing him to address the issue. Basically, the proposal seeks to ensure that national park rules match the gun laws of the state in which the park is located. So if Montana allows you to carry a loaded weapon, so should the rangers at Glacier National Park. Currently, you can bring guns into parks, but they have to be unloaded and stowed away. You can't hike the trails or gaze into the Grand Canyon with a firearm on your hip. No using Mount Rushmore for target practice.
A similar proposal in the Senate has stalled a bill that contains, among other things, designation of the Wild Sky Wilderness Area in Washington. Democrats have claimed it is a political ploy, backed by the National Rifle Association, to force Democrats to take a tough gun vote during an election year.
The NRA is happy about Kempthorne's decision to make the rules change. Proponents argue that it is an issue of basic rights and liberties: You have the right to protect yourself wherever you are, consistent with state law. That's what the editorial board of the Idaho Statesman says.
But not all westerners from gun-friendly states draw the same conclusion. Both of Montana's senators back Kempthorne's move, but two anti-guns-in-parks editorials worth reading appeared in Montana papers. One, from the Kalispell Daily Inter Lake, argues that in nearby Glacier National Park there is no crime problem and that guns are a poor defense against the main predator, grizzly bears. Pepper spray is both non-lethal and more effective, since you don't have to hit a bulls-eye to deter a charging griz.
I'm reminded of what a friend in Alaska once told me about guns and grizzlies. I asked him if he carried a .357 magnum with him in the back country, and he said well, if you take one of those as grizzly protection, you better be sure and file off the gunsight. Why? Because that way, he said, it won't hurt so much when the bear shoves it up your ass.
The government has worked for many years to both bring back Glacier's threatened grizzly population but also to establish peaceful co-existence between the park's bears and people by keeping them wary of — and away from — each other. That seems to have worked pretty well. For those who don't want peace with bears, there's always hunting season.
Another op-ed, in the Billings Gazette, by veteran chief park ranger and superintendent Pete Hart, emphasized that the national parks are unique. "They are special places of inspiration and education with a sense of tranquility, history, and beauty," he writes. Current rules, Hart says, don't infringe on gun ownership and allow the parks to be managed as special, protected places with rules that apply to all of them, from urban parks like Independence Hall to Yellowstone. He quotes a longtime National Park Service employee named Bill Brown, who wrote in a 1971 book called Islands of Hope that he sees the national parks "as sanctuaries of nature, as landmarks of history and culture, and as places of contemplation, discovery and adventure."
There seems to be a division between those who see our national parks as special places outside the norm and those who think you should be able to do in a park whatever you do at home. But the parks, by definition, are special and require care and stewardship. They cannot survive without protection, regulation, and sensitive regard. Much of this is already eroding as groups lobby for greater commercialization of the parks and as funds for care and upkeep fail to keep pace with need.
There are a number of areas where I stray from liberal orthodoxy, and one of them is on guns. I am a strong supporter of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms for protection, sport, or any other legal purpose. That said, I think guns can be regulated to a degree. It seems to me that allowing people to carry around loaded guns in our national parks creates more problems than it solves. There is no major crime or outlaw problem, and to the extent that wildlife pose a risk to visitors, well, no wilderness park should promise a risk-free visit.
I think the key word is the one Brown used: sanctuary. Our national parks should be sanctuaries from life as usual. If you can take your hat off in church, you ought to be able to keep your gun in the car when visiting such a place. If that's going to spoil your vacation, go someplace else.
Real smart. Let the low-lifes feel safe in the knowledge that no law-abiding park visitors are packing heat. After all, why keep the criminally-minded guessing? Let 'em know that everyone's an easy mark. Then we can all feel "safe" from evil guns. Right?
“Gun free zones” are killing zones.
As long as one could encounter bears, wolves or two footed predators, one should be able to carry a gun.
“How do you feel about allowing loaded guns in our national parks?”
Great, just as I support expanding our hunting opportunities whenever possible.
As to self defense, it is a necessity at all times. The bears worry me much less than the humans.
Lots of people have been murdered in national parks. And just because there isn’t a “crime problem” doesn’t mean there won’t ever be an incident.
I’m pretty sure Virginia Tech didn’t have a “crime problem,” either.
Ahh, liberals.
IMHO, being able to carry a firearm anywhere in the U.S. should be viewed as a right for any and all law abiding citizens.
“Do we need guns at Paradise?”
LOVE that movie - “Madagascar”. A bunch of zoo animals esacpe to the “Wild” where they think it will be a better place to live. Just a kid’s movie. But the gretest scene is when they are walking though the forest and nice quite music is playing while various small cuddly furry critters are eaten by crocs, snakes, etc right in front of their startled eyes.
Any place is Paradise if you’re locked and loaded to deal with problems. If not, it isn’t.
I’d like to be able to carry wherever I go in the United States. That includes NYC
The only hat that was ever able to be used as a defensive weapon was in that 007 movie, Wasn’t that guys name Oddjob? Had a steel hat?
Yeah, because no crazy psycho killer would think that the remote beauty of a national park would make a good location for a crime.......
This author has said so many stupid things in such a short article that it’s hard to figure out where to start.
If you can take your hat off in church? Ok. That applies to the 1% of us men who are appropriately civilized to wear a fedora or a flat cap (occasionally a homburg). I’m not talking about baseball caps and especially the backward baseball cap.
Nobody is wearing hats todays except The Woim and members of the Ortho community (to them I say Baruch HaShem).
However, how many cute young women need to disappear in our parks? I guess the author of the article means that if you’re a cute and sexy but defenseless young woman than please bring a half-dozen men to chaparone you.
Guns save lives, unless men leave their guns in the car.
Our national parks are tax dollar sucking parasites - our churches are sanctuaries. These guys in the natl parks are idol worshippers and born statists!
Dripping contempt for the citizens of this republic is evident whenever a tax thief (i.e., govt employee) refers to a tax-provided thief den (i.e., govt owned bldgs and parks) as a sanctuary. God sanctifies things, not government.
Yours truly,
The Woim
Not a bad show
Welcome to FR.
(That's intended as an insult - as all gun owners are rednecks)
She wanted to take a loaded gun with her but was afraid they'd punish her. So she gave up national parks.
Frankly I've never considered national parks a safe place to camp and much prefer what the states offer ~ more guards, many let you bring in guns (which you can do anyway as long as you don't brandish them and scare away the racoon babies), and they are more organized.
Too many national parks seem more given to having you obey rules than in letting you enjoy yourself. Fascism runs rampant in the national parks.
This cheery little putz actually believes any violent felon would certainly respect his wishes.
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