Park Rangers Oppose Bid to Ease Gun Ban

[Hazcat]

Park Rangers Oppose Bid to Ease Gun Ban
By MATTHEW DALY – 18 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Park rangers, retirees and conservation groups are protesting a plan by the Interior Department to reconsider regulations restricting loaded guns in national parks.

The groups say current regulations requiring that visitors to national parks render their weapons inaccessible were working and have made national parks among the safest places in America.

"Loaded guns are not needed and are not appropriate in our national parks," said Doug Morris, a retired park superintendent and member of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.

The plan to reconsider the gun regulations "could break what is not broken and change the nature of our national parks," Morris said Monday.

Morris spoke at a news conference called in response to an announcement Friday that the Interior Department will review gun laws on lands administered by the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The department will draw up new rules by April 30 for public comment, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a letter to 50 senators who requested the review.

The National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates hailed the announcement as the first step to relax a decades-old ban on bringing loaded firearms into national parks.

"Law-abiding citizens should not be prohibited from protecting themselves and their families while enjoying America's national parks and wildlife refuges," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist.

A Kempthorne spokesman emphasized the review was in its early stages, but said it made sense to update regulations that were last changed in the early 1980s.

"It's appropriate to look at updating these regulations, to bring them into conformity with state laws" on guns use, said Chris Paolino, an Interior Department spokesman.

Conservation groups and park rangers disagreed, saying the plan amounted to surrender to the NRA.

The gun ban "has not been a major issue at national parks in recent years," said Bryan Faehner of the National Parks Conservation Association, an advocacy group.

The restrictions, which require that guns be unloaded and placed somewhere that is not easily accessible, such as in a car trunk, "were reasonable then and are reasonable now," Faehner said. "This is not about guns. It's not about parks. It's a hardball political issue injected by the NRA in an election year," he said.

Kempthorne's announcement follows letters complaining about the gun restriction from half the Senate — 41 Republicans and nine Democrats.

Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican who organized the letters, said he was pleased that Kempthorne — a former Idaho governor and senator — was "taking steps to uphold the rights of citizens under the Second Amendment and eliminate inconsistent regulations."

Crapo and other lawmakers had complained to Kempthorne that the existing guidelines were "confusing, burdensome and unnecessary."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5irWgvJzXz3UFknRjrJgjierKwnFwD8V1KB1O0

[Ronald38]

Heh- When some big-time bureaucrats (superintendents, etc.) and politicians get involved, the rights and abilities of citizens to respond defensively against attack by bad guys ALL goes out the window.  Their desired result is the citizen has to rely on those bureaucrats for the defense.  Almost always the protection is way too late.  They all know these things but refuse to recognize what was meant by "inalienable rights".  When it comes right down to it, that old quotation applies here, "I would rather be judged by 12 than carried to my grave by 6".  Make a responsible choice for yourself and family.  The government cannot give these rights, they can only take some away  Ron

[Teresa Heilevang]

Do you have to walk through a tree made metal detector ? Or do they pat you down before you go hiking or camping in their forests? I may be considered a rebel in some areas.( may be? ) but I also don't brag and show off that I have a cc gun on my person.  If it becomes as much a part of you as your underware...whose to know? And 99% of the time you won't need it.. Buuuutttt.. there might be that 1%... 

[tombogan03884]

  The government cannot give these rights, they can only take some away  Ron

Years ago,some state, I think it was Oregon, passed a law saying you needed to buy a license to fish, NO licenses were bought and people continued to fish, they wound up scrapping the law because they could not charge every fisherman in the state. Non cooperation was part of the independence movements in both the Irish Republic and India. In Ireland the separatists set up parallel organizations for government services, (courts, police, hospitals etc) and ostracized ( had no further dealings with) people who used any Government organizations. True that was a smaller, more closely knit community than we live in today, but it can get mighty lonely when family and former Friends act like you aren't even there. My point is that the government can't take squat, (except through wage garnishment) that you are not willing to surrender. Gives a WHOLE new meaning to Nancy Reagan's JUST SAY NO !

[Hazcat]

Hey, I'll give mine up as soon as the Rangers give theirs up.

[Sponsor]

[wisconsin]

Do you have to walk through a tree made metal detector ? Or do they pat you down before you go hiking or camping in their forests? I may be considered a rebel in some areas.( may be? ) but I also don't brag and show off that I have a cc gun on my person.  If it becomes as much a part of you as your underware...whose to know? And 99% of the time you won't need it.. Buuuutttt.. there might be that 1%... 

I agree there is always that 1%.I've always taken my sidearm with me. I just don't advertise it.

[tombogan03884]

Hey, I'll give mine up as soon as the Rangers give theirs up.

Not even then. Maybe especially not then.

[gunman1911]

Concealed means to hide something where it is not seen if it is not seen how does it offend?  Gun free zone=Murder zone. Any body that goes into the wilderness without being properly prepared just asking for trouble and going into a gun free zone now days  is asking for a whole lot of trouble! Am I the only one that see's this?

[Hazcat]

Concealed means to hide something where it is not seen if it is not seen how does it offend?  Gun free zone=Murder zone. Any body that goes into the wilderness without being properly prepared just asking for trouble and going into a gun free zone now days  is asking for a whole lot of trouble! Am I the only one that see's this?

Nope, but many of us also do not talk about breaking the law on the (open) internet.

[tombogan03884]

Nope, but many of us also do not talk about breaking the law on the (open) internet.

I hear you loud and clear Haz, but truthfully, there is no such thing as secure communication any more, except,oddly, the US mail which is "sacred" since the CIA operation got shut down. The biggest problem for any group,Mafia, IRA, Congress, has always been the "informer", so that means face to face comms are not trustworthy, even if you CAN trust everyone present besides the stereotyped "bug", telephones can be remotely accessed to serve as listening devices, years ago surveillance teams used lip readers, now we have parabolic microphones, (like the "hunters ear" device) someone who wants to know what you are saying can bounce a laser beam off a window (walls don't work AS well) run the signal through a computer system and hear your words better than people in the room because it enables the operator to filter out background noise. Most, if not all of this technology is commercially available to anyone with some money, technical knowledge and a Radio Shack. The NSA collects ALL electronic emissions, there are standards about what THEY can listen to, But the greatest guarantee of your privacy are those annoying people, mostly kids, texting and phoning and IM ing, everywhere all the time. Everything else gets lost in the clutter they create. Thats how terrorists and Mafia types keep in touch, avoid key words and you disappear into the masses.

And if there's no manned metal detector it ain't a gun free zone