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Anonymous writes: > Because of the threat of poaching, the presence of an assembled and loaded weapon is a reasonable threat ON ITS FACE. How about: "because of the threat of murder, rape and assault an assembled and loaded weapon is a reasonable defense ON ITS FACE"? > This is a real reason there have been no successful challenges to the existing regulation

Jun 2nd - 10:00am | Anonymous

Dear Fred: Because of the threat of poaching, the presence of an assembled and loaded weapon is a reasonable threat ON ITS FACE. This is a real reason there have been no successful challenges to the existing regulation on Second Amendment grounds. All judges and reasonable people would agree this is exactly the kind of reasonable regulation the Constitution is talking about.

Jun 2nd - 08:53am | Rick

> Ya know, we could bat this back and forth for years and we wouldn't see eye to eye. Art did a good job of presenting the factual Texas data. Thanks, Art.

Jun 1st - 22:27pm | Fred Miller

It's true to point out that we could argue about this for years. It would be a much better use of this valuable space to dissuade people's irrational fears of fellow Park visitors who might be armed. There have been more than 9,400 comments posted about the proposed firearm regulation change. It's probably safe to say that the rule change will take place.

Jun 1st - 16:19pm | Art

Kurt, The statistics used by the Texas Concealed Handgun Instructors Association are drawn directly from the Texas Department of Public Safety Concealed Handgun Licensing Section and put into the proper context as measured against the age appropriate population of Texas. The instructors are DPS qualified and work closely with the Texas DPS.

Jun 1st - 16:11pm | Rick

Blair just doesn't get it: > the point is, why would one need to carry a handgun in a National Park?

Jun 1st - 16:03pm | Kurt Repanshek

Rick,

Jun 1st - 15:38pm | Blair C.

Houston, Texas last year. Man trying to stop a robbery in the house next door shot and killed both thieves in the back with no warning to the second one, despite the fact he was told to take no action by the 911 operator he was on the phone with. Need any more examples?

Jun 1st - 15:32pm | Blair C.

The point you are missing is "concealed handguns," not just any kind of weapon. Hunters (and poachers) don't hunt with handguns, and murderers generally don't kill with rifles (although there have been some notable exceptions). Believe me, a handgun will have little affect on either a charging bear or, if in Yellowstone, a bison.

Jun 1st - 15:05pm | Rick

Kur says, > You keep glossing over the fact that CCW permit holders who comment on this forum have already said they've packed in the parks, against the law > That's criminal.

Jun 1st - 09:21am | Rick Smith

If there is a bigger whacko than Jerry Patterson, I don't know who it is. Rick Smith

May 31st - 23:07pm | Fred Miller

Sorry Lone Hiker. I hate to let you down but I read this piece online the other day and felt compelled to confess. It's one thing to make a decision, and another thing altogether to carry it out. I honestly do hope that the proposed rule change goes through. Otherwise I will be a lawbreaker the next time I visit a Park in a CCW permitted state (the only kind I will visit).

May 31st - 21:52pm | Lone Hiker

Aw, Fred!!! After I was decent enough to throw accolades your direction for being honest enough to fess up to the criminal activity that you openly professed, you go and do the proverbial 180 on us!

May 31st - 19:40pm | Kurt Repanshek

OK, I'll try to ignore the fact that you have to start your argument with an insult.

May 31st - 18:36pm | Art

"Congressman Raul Grijalva, who heads the House subcommittee on national parks, is accusing Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne of pandering to the National Rifle Association."

May 31st - 17:59pm | Art

Kurt,

May 31st - 17:21pm | Fred Miller

Confession time: Although I have said that I've carried in a Park, I actually have not. But I have made the deliberate decision that I WOULD carry the next time I visited a Park. Sorta the same thing, I guess. That's why I feel so strongly about changing these rules. Consciously disobeying the law is morally objectionable to me in many ways.

May 31st - 15:01pm | Kurt Repanshek

Rick, You keep glossing over the fact that CCW permit holders who comment on this forum have already said they've packed in the parks, against the law. That's criminal. Also, did you overlook this comment I made earlier under another post:

May 31st - 14:08pm | Rick

the anti-gun crowd continues the basic concepts here. We're talking about eliminating the unconstitutional prohibition of a citizen's right to self defense. Regulation 36CFR 2.4 will be amended to assimilate state CONCEALED CARRY laws. Everything else remains status quo.

May 31st - 13:35pm | Fred Miller

This would take an incredibly good lawyer. How would counsel prove to the court that my UN-fired 9mm pistol had been used to poach a full-grown elk ?? When I visit the Parks, no one, including you, or the animals, or the foreign tourists, are going to know that I am carrying a concealed handgun. How on earth is that going to affect their experience?

May 31st - 12:01pm | Anonymous

To Tom Smith: because right now if a park ranger finds evidence of poaching on wildlife, in parks where hunting is illegal, a loaded weapon, carried illegally, is significant evidence.

Traveler's View: Concealed Weapons Have No Place In Our National Park System

Jun 3rd - 10:04am | Bob Moore

Adding guns to the National Parks is complete contrary to the concept of the parks being a sanctuary. Guns kill, people with guns murder. Allowing guns in parks will only increase the likelyhood of some idiot killing the very animals protected by the sanctuary of the Natioanl Parks.

Jun 2nd - 22:00pm | Kurt Repanshek

Jurjen, I think the statistics -- no matter whose you choose to use -- speak for themselves. The more guns in circulation, the more folks get shot, whether intentionally or accidentally, whether by criminals or by guns owned by any legal gun owner, whether they hold a CCW permit or not.

Jun 2nd - 21:07pm | Jurjen Smies

Bill Wade wrote: I say, give me one example of a citizen with a concealed carry permit who has averted a violent crime in our sacred national park system...

Jun 2nd - 13:50pm | Jurjen Smies

Rangertoo wrote: Not all parks are wild natural areas. Do we really want guns in Lincoln's Home or at Kennedy Birthplace?

Jun 2nd - 08:49am | Rick

Bill says, > I say, give me one example of a citizen with a concealed carry permit who has averted a violent crime in our sacred national park system...

Jun 1st - 20:47pm | Bill Wade

Rick - you say, "I'll say this until you are blue in the face: give me one example of a citizen with a concealed carry permit who has committed a violent crime in your sacred national park system - or any place in our country." I say, give me one example of a citizen with a concealed carry permit who has averted a violent crime in our sacred national park system...

Jun 1st - 07:29am | jr_ranger

I always find it ironic that pro-gun people say the gun control crowd has been duped/misled/confused of the truth by the Brady Campaign, when the pro-gun people have been 'duped' just as much by the NRA....

Artists' Paint Pots Area in Yellowstone National Park Temporarily Closed Due to Thin Surface Crust

Jun 3rd - 09:55am | Bob Moore

It's awesome to see the Park Rangers on top of the situation so quickly. Preparedness is #1. I've been group group leader several times down into the Grand Canyon NP and tell my folks to be over prepared for the worst. Carry a first aid kit and snake bite kit which includes both a sling for injured bones and a burn kit for accidents just as this.

May 31st - 10:02am | jsmacdonald

Definitely. I was on the West Thumb overlook trail 15 years ago, and the thermals were coming through the established trail. We thought it was quite exciting, and we found and told a ranger who basically laughed us off - not sure why because the ranger was giving an interpretive program talking about how quickly thermals change.

National Park Service Director Bomar Scheduled to Meet With Mountain Bike Community

Jun 2nd - 23:57pm | Shirley

I am in my 40s and have been a bike rider since I was VERY little and a mountain biker since the mid 80s. I would have to agree with Marylander that most of us are very respectful of hikers, in truth most of us still hike on ocassion. There are places within National parks that I have dreams of returning to, yet haven't been able to because of time constraints.

Jun 2nd - 09:41am | Marylander

First of all, I am not a mountian biker. I wasn't born with the coordination needed to ride a regular bike on flat concrete, let alone a mountain bike on a rugged trail. However, I have done a lot of hiking over the years with mountain bikers in the National Forests of Colorado and I am happy to report that we've never had any sort of problem with mountain bikers.

Couple That Was Lost In Grand Canyon National Park Had Good Survival Plan

Jun 2nd - 23:28pm | Anonymous

I am so glad the two of you were found. Congrats!

Jun 2nd - 10:44am | Anonymous

I am so impressrd with the resiliance of this couple ...in the 1950s Dad took us camping at the Canyon and on several Indian reservations where he had friends and he taught us pretty much the same things...always let someone know your plans and check in with them as soon as you return and let them find you,wandering around creates panic and decreases survival.

Proposed Settlement Filed in Cape Hatteras National Seashore ORV Case

Jun 2nd - 11:43am | Cut off from th...

I would call myself a bird watcher or at least a friend to birds.

Battle Mounts Over Off-Road Vehicles at Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Jun 2nd - 06:19am | Stephanie Marshall

I don't think people realize that you CAN NOT access most beaches without a ORV. The picture above showing bumper to bumper vehicles also was done on a holiday and not pictured is the roped off area south of Cape Point for birds. That's why all the cars are so congested! Just feels like lies.

Electric Map Going Away at Gettysburg National Military Park

Jun 2nd - 05:01am | Fred Miller

My Grandfather took me to see this map when I was a little boy. I learned more about Civil War history with that one visit than I did in all my years of public school. It's "disappearance" would truly be a tragic loss.

Jun 1st - 23:31pm | Anonymous

I visited G'burg today and went in the new Visitors Center. There is *no equivalent* to the Electric Map there. It does a terrible job at providing a tactical perspective of the battle, something for which the Electric Map was perfect. The new Center is something like 20 times as big as the old one, yet they couldn't find room for the Electric Map? Unbelievable.

Groups Sue Cape Hatteras National Seashore Over ORV Traffic

Jun 1st - 21:47pm | Shawn R Turschak

Anonymous (from 10/21), You have clearly never stepped foot on Hatteras or Ocracoke Island. If you had, you would understand how utterly asinine and inaccurate your characterization of ORV activity there is.

Everglades National Park Wildfire Grows To nearly 33,000 Acres

May 31st - 14:53pm | Anonymous

What chemicals were used to suppress the fire?

Research Indicates Annual Precipitation Might Control Yellowstone National Park's Geysers

May 31st - 13:44pm | Fred Miller

Thanks Kurt !! The video camera is too cool !!

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