Guns in the Parks, Time to Arm Ourselves?
Posted April 28th, 2008 by Kurt Repanshek
Interior Department officials this week are expected to announce revised rules for carrying guns in national parks.
Currently, the regulations require that firearms be broken down and stored out of reach. The NRA has been pushing to see concealed carry allowed in the national parks.
Any thoughts on which way this should go? Do you want to encounter folks with sidearms in the backcountry? Is the NRA right that criminals and ferocious wildlife in the parks make it imperative that park visitors be allowed to arm themselves?
Comments
Paul "Barky" Dionne
Personally, I've shed my hang-up about guns in general.
The law-abiding will continue to be law-abiding, the criminals will continue to be criminals, gun laws or no.
I won't feel any more or less safe knowing fellow park travelers may be carrying guns. Even if one feels the biggest danger in national parklands comes from fellow human beings, an argument that probably holds water statistically, those dangerous human beings are probably already armed (being a criminal element), so this law changes nothing, except in appeasing a certain type of voter...
My one and only fear is decent, yet armed,people will be less respectful of the dangers of wildlife. They may feel safer venturing close to the larger animals, figuring their firearm will protect them. Of course, it won't. The big animals that can hurt you will also not be so easily stopped by a bullet, at least not before they can cause serious damage to you or your companions.
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My travels through the National Park System: americaincontext.com
Paul "Barky" Dionne
Sorry, double post
grey_lensman
when people go thru the hoops to conceal carry, they are responsible people. I think that it adds to the overall safety in the parks to have people that can respond to the unbalanced that think a gun is power to wield. They might stop a tragedy while it is small. I don't own a handgun because don't think I am level headed enough, but many people are. Virginia tech might have been stopped by a responsible gun owner defending the innocent.
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