Posted on 02/22/2010 5:05:14 PM PST by JohnRLott
A two-decade-old ban on loaded guns in national parks ends today. Loaded guns will be allowed in Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, and other national parks. Guns will still be prohibited in some areas in the parks, federal facilities that are regularly staffed by National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees, but everywhere else they will be allowed.
“You're raising the level of risk in the parks, and the chance that people will use the parks less than they have in the past,” Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign gun control group warned during February 2009. As evidence for his claim, Helmke pointed to a New York school teacher who said that she would cancel school trips to national parks if guns were allowed. Helmke and others opponents have largely focused on permitted concealed handguns again being allowed in the parks.
Yet, despite the opposition of the Obama administration, the new federal law is hardly radical, as it simply defers to state law. It passed the Congress with about 2-to-1 majorities in both the House and Senate. If a state allows people to carry permitted concealed handguns, permit holders can carry their guns in the national parks in that state.
Opponents worry . . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Hunters have been carrying loaded guns in Grand Teton National Park for over 50 years.
No problems caused by that.
It’s going to be the Wild West out there. Run for your lives.
It is silly. People have been packing heat in National Forests for years, where thousands of people camp, hike, and recreate, with little to no problems. Why would there suddenly be problems in National Parks?
If there is anyplace I want a gun it is in Glacier National Park.
Maybe the complaining teacher should ask her classroom kids if they are afraid to go to the park, before she passes judgment that a legal firearm may be there?
While there were some notorious "Wild West" incidents in the past, the murder rate was much lower than it is now.
Fear is, after all, the Brady Campaign’s stock in trade, and they’ll happily lie to produce it. Frightened people are more controllable.
I have carried a loaded pistol into the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite and others over the years.
You know what? I have yet to pull it, never name use it. But I darn sure well should the need arise!
This just in...concealed weapons allowed into national parks. Grizzly bear lobby vows to continue the fight.
Twenty some years back, we had a park ranger here in our community who got outta hand. He was escorted out of our community under state police protection. Ever since, the park people go outta their way to be community friendly, no joke; and I have got along with all of them; ok by me.
Oh, thank God. I'm so sick of the smothering nannystate.
Indeed, where bear scat contains berries while griz scat contain bells and smells like pepper spray.
Yep.
I live just outside of YNP, and yes, there are grizzlies in them thar hills. What will cause a challenge to this new law is the first time a bear is shot in YNP or Glacier. The only recent bear attack I can rememember in Yellowstone was a few years ago when a peta nut learned the hard way, he was killed, that those bears really are not that cute and cuddly when you get too close. I have known more than a few guys who still carried in the back country in YNP. The old rule of the three S’s apply: Shoot, Shovel, Shut up.
This is a shot of a griz last Christmas that woke up for a rack of ribs. A friend took this great pic. http://www.thomasstanton.com/New_Images/pages/071-H-1225%20copy.htm
Silly you.
What political party is in charge?
The only reason they would ever find out I'm carrying a fire arm is when they hear a loud bang.....or repeated loud bangs.
The S&W .40 Sigma is a bit bulky for a CCW, true.
I figure I can save on ammo by only having to shoot once, .......maybe twice. :)
“And this positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms. In all time in this wretched Godforsaken country, the one thing that has appalled me most of all this this prepostrous preoccupation with bosoms. Don’t you realize they have become the dominant theme in American culture: in literature, advertising and all fields of entertainment and everything. I’ll wager you anything you like that if American women stopped wearing brassieres, your whole national economy would collapse overnight!”
-J Algernon Hawthorne, from “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Fear nothing. Pack heat everywhere.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.