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A View From The Overlook: Safety Issue

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The National Park Service and other federal law enforcement agencies have always had a guarded, nervous relationship with the National Rifle Association, and with good reason.

The 4.5-million-member NRA is the largest armed entity in the world; larger than the American army, larger even than the Chinese Army, and is vociferously truculent in assertion of its rights.

True, there are some NPS rangers who are duly ordained life-members of the NRA and who support it enthusiastically and religiously (the NRA does indeed have some aspects of a religion).

Other rangers are not so sure. One ranger, who shall remain anonymous, as he is still making a living with the NPS, had this to tell me:

“PJ, early in my NPS career, I became a firearms instructor. As part of that training and in order to gain certification, I was required to join the NRA. I was furious and complained to my supervisor. My peers looked at me like I was some wild-eyed commie.

"After joining the NRA, I received an amazing amount of NRA propaganda, including subscription to two of their publications. It was very instructive to experience the materials that were sent to their members. I now understood why they hold the severe positions that they do and how they become so rabid about these issues; total mind-bending propaganda similar to what might have been seen in World War II Germany. I know it sounds extreme, but after you read their publications, I am confident you will agree," Ranger X told me.

One person who apparently agreed with Ranger X was the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. Unlike Ranger X, President Bush was an NRA True Believer; a life member. However, Bush resigned his life membership. What happened?

Among other things, what happened was Wayne La Pierre, “spokesperson” for the NRA.

It seems that Wayne spoke.

Well, you say, that’s what “spokespersons” are supposed to do, right?

Except in the case of Wayne. Not a bad person, Wayne was sort of like your Uncle Fred.

Every family has an Uncle Fred. A decent enough chap, but there are certain things that send him into raging, crazy tirades. Uncle Fred believes that the Democrats are putting fluoride into the water supply to turn everyone into liberal zombies. Therefore, everyone at Thanksgiving dinner is warned not to mention (A) Democrats (B) Fluoride or (C) Water.

In the case of Wayne, some of the trigger words that will set him off are (A) federal agents (B) guns (C) gun control and of course, (D) the Second Amendment.

La Pierre had a dim view of federal agents before the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 federal employees, including four commissioned federal law enforcement officers. Just days before the bombing he compared federal agents to some kind of fascists in a letter soliciting support for the NRA in its opposition to gun-control legislation.

“What did Wayne say that was so bad?” you ask.

Basically, Wayne said that the federal law enforcement officers were “Jack-booted thugs.”

After the bombing, President Bush resigned his life membership in the NRA with the following letter to La Pierre.

“…. Al Whicler, who served on my Secret Service detail when I was Vice President and President, was killed in Oklahoma City. He was no Nazi. He was a kind man, a loving parent, a man dedicated to serving his country and serve it well he did.

"I am a gun owner and an avid hunter. Over the years I have agreed with most of the NRA’s objectives, particularly your educational and training efforts and your fundamental stance in favor of owning guns.

"However, your broadside against federal agents deeply offends my own sense of decency and honor and it offends my concept of service to country. It indirectly slandered a wide array of government law enforcement officials who are out there, day and night, laying their lives on the line for all of us…”

Well said, Mr. President!

Now among the “wide array of government law enforcement officials” are the National Park Service's commissioned law enforcement park rangers, who don’t wear Jackboots and are not thugs. (Wayne may have watching too many old World War II movies on TV.)

Now, one of the problems of protecting the public is the “Security Bubble Illusion,” the fondly and widely held belief that somewhere, someplace, somehow, there is a ” Camelot of Safety,” an enchanted place where Nothing Bad Can Happen.

This is often described as being some rural village in the “Heartland" ---until, of course, something really horrific happens there.

Another “Camelot of Safety” is America’s National Parks where John Muir’s injunction to “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings!” is expected by the gentle and naive to cure even potential mass murderers of their desires.

Unfortunately, that is not in the mountains’ job description. Since humans visit national parks; this means the potential of random violence exists in even the smallest, most bucolic historical park. Even something as mundane as a dog off a leash can escalate into murderous violence. This was exactly the case at Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park in Hawaii, and cost a responding park ranger his life.

More recently, Ranger Margaret Anderson was killed in Mount Rainier National Park on January 1, 2012, by a paranoid fugitive who was headed up the mountain toward the heavily used Paradise Visitor Center. The killer’s intentions are not known, but they were unlikely to have been pleasant. The killer’s plans were disrupted and in the ensuing manhunt, Mount Rainier itself exacted the ultimate vengeance.

There is no “Camelot of Safety” in national parks. Things happen. Last year, a mountain goat improbably gored a visitor to death.

So, with the smarmy oleaogeness of a crooked undertaker, the National Rifle Association offered a plan to protect the patrons of the national parks from dangers both animal and human.

How? Well, the NRA believes that everyone who visits a national park should potentially be armed and dangerous (to the bad guy or “bad” animal of course)

Now this is the kind of bizarre idea that normally shows up in publications like THUNDERBEAR, which the NPS can ignore.

Unfortunately, the NPS cannot safely ignore the NRA.

Using malleable congresspersons who, for whatever reason, agreed with their position, the NRA put sufficient pressure on the Department of Interior and the NPS to reverse a nearly 100-year-ban on firearms carry in the national parks.

To be sure, since parks were often adjacent to U.S. Forest Service or other public land where hunting was permitted, bringing unloaded, cased, and/or disassembled firearms through a park was OK. That all changed when the gun people won the right to carry fully operational, fully loaded guns in the parks, the rationale being defense against dangerous animals or people. (One envisions Wayne LaPierre being enveloped by an Everglades Python!)

Do the NPS Resource Management folks agree? Generally speaking, no.

The wildlife management folks understandably believe that their years of education and experience in animal behavior trump the knowledge of a used car salesman with the price of a Glock pistol.

The wildlife rangers point out that bison often manage people with false or bluff charges when us pesky two leggers get too close. However, the charge can become a real one if 9 mm rounds irritate the bison.

Some Yosemite National Park bears adopted a clever mugging strategy. While they would not directly attack a backpacker, they would seize the bottom end of the backpack and hold on. This is a Tug O’War that no human can win. The hiker is forced to abandon his pack.

Seems like a clear case for Mr. Glock or Mr. Colt, doesn’t it? Nope, the NPS believes that the bear should learn human avoidance, but not by dying, and the NPS would much prefer that you use the very effective bear sprays.

Ah, but what about the human predator? Again, the law enforcement ranger spends hundreds of hours in training, and later with that stern teacher, Experience, in learning when to shoot and when not to shoot. They prefer that you leave these decisions to the ranger.

“But what if there is no ranger available?” you ask. What if you are hiking a dark and lonely trail 20 miles from civilization and you come upon a strange and suspicious character, possibly a liberal or maybe even a Democrat, coming down the trail, directly toward you! What are you going to do? Shouldn’t you have the ability to shoot him?

Well, an actual and similar situation happened to David Michael Keane, son of the present president of the NRA. In the year 2002 The 21-year-old Mr. Keane was driving the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a unit of the National Park Service. An aggressive driver cut off Mr. Keane. There was not a park ranger in sight (never around when you need ‘em!) So young Mr. Keane hauled out his legal 9mm semiautomatic and fired one shot at the offending driver. The bullet shattered the rear window and lodged in the headrest of the driver’s seat. (Not bad shooting from a moving vehicle!)

Bullets are strange things, once fired they cannot be recalled and they change lives forever. The aggressive driver was not injured (except for being scared out of his Okole, as the Hawaiians say). David Michael Keane on the other hand, could not unshoot that single bullet and it changed his life. He was arrested on December 5, 2002, pled guilty and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison where he was to learn anger management and the manufacture of interpretive signs for the NPS.

Something to think about.

Comments

If you could demonstrate that banning would have some beneficial effect - i.e. there is a need for the ban, then you might get more support. But, the fact is the 1994 ban had no measurable impact.

Guess it depends on how you measure "impact" of the previous ban. Here's some food for thought. (I include sources, and will accept their accuracy at face value unless someone refutes the information.)

1. Since 1982, there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the country...Twenty-five of these mass shootings have occurred since 2006 (after the ban on assault weapons was lifted) , and seven of them took place in 2012.

Source: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map

2. 15 of the 25 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in the United States

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-ab...

3. "Mass Shooting Incidents in America (1984-2012)." This report documents 30 mass shootings in the U. S. in which large capacity magazines were used. Thirteen of the incidents listed (43 %) occurred since late 2004 (when the ban on assault weapons was lifted). It makes pretty sobering reading.

The report notes, "The increased lethality of such incidents is made possible by the use of large capacity ammunition magazines (defined as more than 10-rounds) which enable a shooter to rapidly fire off as many as 100-rounds without having to reload the firearm."

Source: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/initiative1-shootings.php

4. Given the large number of assault-type weapons and large capacity magazines already in circulation, would a new "ban" help? It's hard to say; it would take a long time to work down the number of those items available for use, and as gun advocates like to point out, a ban wouldn't keep those items out of the hands of criminals. That said, others would argue you have to start somewhere to address the current problem, which sadly seems to be trending upward in the U. S.


well said Jim


Jim - a lot of misc data that means nothing. Have there been mass shootings, absolutely. Would similar violence not occured with an assault rifle or high capacity magazine ban been in place? None of this information makes that connection - other than some opinions by people who collected the facts.

Perhaps there are other factors - video games? declining family structures? the use of psychotic drugs (most recent shooters have been on or recently come off), the existence of gun free zones?

The National Institute of Justice's (part of DOJ) (https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles1/173405.txt) two reports, one shortly after the ban was in place and one near the end of the 10 year ban state the evidence is inconclusive.

"Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best and perhaps too small for reliable measurement. AWs were rarely used in gun crimes even before the ban. LCMs are involved in a more substantial share of gun crimes, but it is not clear how often the outcomes of gun attacks depend on the ability of offenders to fire more than ten shots (the current magazine capacity limit) without reloading. "

And I will take the DOJ over Motherjones as a source (almost) anytime.


Jim, Thank you for your attribution. We could use a lot more of that....regarding your statement that 'we have to start somewhere'... ok, but do we have to start with law abiding citizens? you said yourself criminals won't comply so what's the point?

The majority of gun crime (yes, these mass shootings are basically crimes) occur with handguns, not Diane Fiensteins 'assault weapons'. Why aren't we banning handguns?

I know they're scary to look at but the technology involved in these assault weapons is over 100 years old. John Browning's model 1911 semi-automatic pistol was patented in that year. It's still seeing service with our military and is one of the most popular handguns with civilians. The technology in these assault weapons isn't any different then the Model 1911. Shouldn't we ban these handguns too or are some semi-autos evil (the black ones) while others (like the majority of handguns in service today) are ok? Yeah, a bunch of you will say 'yes, lets ban them all!' Are you going to confiscate the 300 million already out there? Cared for, they can last for a century you know. It's gonna take a long time to 'work your way through them'.

It does seem that mass shootings are trending up. Could it be that the mass media contributes to this trend with the feeding frenzy they initiate and the infamy they give the shooters? How many people who feel 'left out of society" and 'powerless" are looking for some way to make themselves known are out there sitting in Mom and Dad's basement watching TV?

What about the entertainment industry? Are they at all culpable? A few years ago, when cigarettes were the worst evil in the world, Joe Camel was claimed to be a tool of the industry to hook kids on smoking. If that's so, you don't think maybe movies and video games play a role here?

Lee, I see from your bio that you were a teacher. Did you accept any stated opinion from your students when you assigned them some topic to expound on or did you require that they provide some evidence to support their claims of fact? Did you accept their manipulations of fact and deliberate twisting of statements without attempting to teach them the proper way to make an argument? It ain't hard to document a source, as Jim has done. Maybe you didn't teach a subject where students had to validate their statements....Gym or shop maybe.....

Legislation for it's own sake isn't the answer. Politicians legislate in cases like this to get re-elected (Feinstien maybe) or to advance their position to the next level (Biden, Cuomo?). Good grief they're just politicians! Identification and help for those who can be expected to be violent might help. Education holds promise. Who is the leader in firearms education in this country including safe storage, and firearms handling? Maybe they have something to add to the debate that would be useful. No, forget it..... the NRA is evil.

BTW, a bunch of you keep referring to the second amendment and hunting. The second amendment has nothing to do with hunting. It has to do with government tyranny. Like occurred in Germany, Italy, Japan in the last century.


Same old argument. We don't have conclusive studies, so let's keep dangerous military grade weapons in the hands of civilians. Meanwhile, mass shootings keep occurring... This is just an irrational smokescreen. I'm with Lee on this one.


Mike, I taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades variously for many years. Those students were just beginning to be capable of reasoned thought. It distresses me when some adults seem to cling blindly to ideologies rather than making an attempt to look at a bigger picture and insist on trying to use massive amounts of repeated verbiage as they attempt to make a point.

I cannot believe that at a time in human history when the total of human knowledge is more than doubling every two to three years that we can continue to believe that there is no need to consider possible changes in how we govern ourselves. Every time technology makes a leap forward, we need to investigate the consequences of those leaps. What might the moral, legal, human consequences be? Then, if necessary, we need to react and make adjustments lest we find ourselves in a place from which there is no safe escape.

For anyone to try to claim that our Constitution must not be changed in any way is to deny the effects of the evolution of human knowledge and technology. But it's not just the way we govern ourselves, it also must include other parts of the physical world. The argument over a warming climate is one example of that just as is the debate over gun safety.

If anyone simply locks themselves into clinging desperately to one idea while refusing to investigate others, they are guilty of self-deception. I learned to fly light aircraft in the late 1950's. At that time I could not possibly have conceived of the changes that have occurred in aviation in just my lifetime. As a pilot I have had to adjust my thinking and actions accordingly. When someone presumes to tell others that they know what our founders had in mind when they wrote any portion of the Constitution or Bill of Rights, I immediately become justifiably suspect of their ability -- or willingness -- to think reasonably. Burying heads in sand and refusing to at least consider alternatives is as foolish as taking off in an aircraft without having checked the fuel levels in its tanks.

And when I see anyone spouting about "government tyranny," it worries me. Paranoia is not conducive to rational thought. We have to put aside imaginary things and concentrate on reality.


This is just an irrational smokescreen.

No, doing something for the sake of doing something when it won't have any results is irrational. The studies are conclusive - they indicate there is no measureable effect. Why don't we just ban red cars? That will be just as effective in stopping mass killings.

Oh, and by the way, we aren't talking about military grade weapons.

And to PJ - are you going to remove the slander to LaPierre? The events as you descibe them never happened and your leaving them posted when they have been demonstrated in error is irresponsible.


For anyone to try to claim that our Constitution must not be changed in any way is to deny the effects of the evolution of human knowledge and technology.

Lee - the Constitution has been changed 27 times. There is a method to do it. Do it the right way. Problem is the ant-gun folks know they can't they don't have the support. Therefore they just want to ignore it, or "interpret" it differently. There may need to be tweeks to the Constitution to make it function better - essentially what our prior Amendments did. But the core principles (such as the right to bear arms), are like the ten commandments, ever lasting.


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