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U.S. Senator To Make Bid to Allow National Park Visitors to Carry Guns

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U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn wants to make it OK to carry guns in the national parks.

Why would a doctor be determined to provide more access to guns in the country?

U.S. Senator Thomas Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, will try to do that by introducing an amendment that would bar the Interior secretary from enforcing the current ban on carrying weapons in the parks.

The attempt by Sen. Coburn, who specializes in family medicine and "has personally delivered more than 4,000 babies," has drawn the attention of the Association of National Park Rangers, the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police, and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.

Sen. Coburn's effort, which you can find attached below, would prohibit the Interior secretary from enforcing regulations currently in place that require gun owners to have their guns unloaded and stored while visiting most units of the park system.

In a letter sent to other senators, (and also attached below) the three groups say Sen. Coburn's amendment not only could lead to an increase in poaching in the parks but also impact the safe atmosphere that currently exists.

Senator Coburn’s amendment could dramatically degrade the experience of park visitors and put their safety at risk if units of the National Park System were compelled to follow state gun laws. For example, since Wyoming has limited gun restrictions, visitors could see persons with semi-automatic weapons attending campground programs, hiking down park trails or picnicking along park shorelines at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Moreover, many rangers can recite stories about incidents where the risk to other visitors – as well as to the ranger – would have been exacerbated if a gun had been readily-accessible. This amendment would compromise the safe atmosphere that is valued by Americans and expected by international tourists traveling to the United States.

There is simply no legitimate or substantive reason for a thoughtful sportsman or gun owner to carry a loaded gun in a national park unless that park permits hunting. The requirement that guns in parks are unloaded and put away is a reasonable and limited restriction to facilitate legitimate purposes—the protection of precious park resources and safety of visitors.

You can contact Sen. Coburn via this site to let him know what you think of his plans.

Comments

I don't have a bone to pick in this argument. I'm at once a pacifist, but I'm also an anarchist - so I don't really care about government rights versus privileges. I don't like guns; I don't like hierarchies asserting their power by hording arms in themselves while at the same time denying it of people they control. I don't like any of it on any of the traditional sides of the argument.

However, I do care a great deal about what's said to be innate.

When Anonymous writes: "Our right to arm ourself is also inate..."

What is the argument for saying that? What is the argument for any right whatsoever being innate?

I wrote a series of essays on John Locke and the influence of his thinking on why there are national parks (forget about what one does in them), and I wrote against the very basis of Locke's thinking, that there is a certain innate right that people have that they cede over to government; that right being what it is, they can do with land as they will. Those for government and against government both seem to accept Locke's basic arguments about natural (innate) rights.

What gives you reason to believe that there is an innate right to arm oneself?

And, for those on the other side, what gives government "the right" to stop people from being armed?

Jim Macdonald
The Magic of Yellowstone
Yellowstone Newspaper
Jim's Eclectic World


Can you not envision a situation in a campground where something similar could happen?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The more people are allowed to carry guns, the less safe I feel.

Only in a campground where you continued blathering.


"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The more people are allowed to carry guns, the less safe I feel."

I hate that you feel this way, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

Something to consider: I'm sure that we agree that a gun is just a THING, incapable of being GOOD or BAD. I think we also agree that a BAD person with a gun is a BAD thing. Is it too much to extrapolate that just maybe a GOOD guy with a gun is a GOOD thing? Just a thought ....


How ironic that a response I posted yesterday in favor of allowing carry in the Parks was not posted here. I stated that many of the arguments against allowing guns in the parks are based on emotions, not fact. I also stated that I disliked being characterized as a Neanderthal or a beer swilling slob because I am a gun owner. I have never mistaken a human being for an elk, a bear or a squirrel as one of the first posters stated has happened to him in a National Forest. The argument that we need to continue the ban on guns in the parks because tourists would stay away from the parks and we would lose millions of dollars of revenue is absolutely mind boggling.

The parks don't exist to generate revenue. The parks are public land. We have a right that is affirmed by the Constitution and that right is being infringed here. If I want to carry a gun for protection that is my right and my business. The comment about our "nearly useless" gun control laws doing nothing to control violence is absolutely correct. Restrictive gun laws only affect law abiding citizens. If you want to stop violence address the society that causes those problems, not the tools by which that violence is enacted.

Take a look at Great Britain. Restrictive gun laws did nothing to curb violence so they enacted restrictive laws against edged weapons such as knives and swords. That has done nothing to curb violence. Now they are moving towards banning toy guns! This is insane! Wake up Americans, the problems with our violent society are not caused by guns they are caused by people with no inhibitions against hurting others. But I guess that by banning guns you can feel like you are doing something about the problem.

The real question is whether or not THESE comments will make it past the censor and get posted. Not only are my 2A rights being infringed, so are my 1A rights!

Don,
The non beer swilling, non Neanderthal, hiking, camping, cycling, skiing, shooting on our federal lands enthusiast.


Don,

For starters, there is no record of you submitting a comment to this story yesterday or even the day before. Secondly, I'm afraid you have no First Amendment right to have your comments published here:

In Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo (1974), the Court unanimously struck down a state law requiring newspapers criticizing political candidates to publish their responses. The state claimed that the law had been passed to ensure press responsibility. Finding that only freedom, and not press responsibility, is mandated by the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not force newspapers to publish that which they do not desire to publish.


(You can find the source here.)

And....

The First Amendment by its terms applies only to laws enacted by Congress, and not to the actions of private persons.


(You can find the source here.)

Now, as to your rights to carry a gun on public lands, in the case of the national park system you don't have that right under current laws and regulations. You do have the right to transport your firearm across a national park, as long as that weapon is stored safely away.

As for your 2nd Amendment rights, there's much debate over exactly what the 2nd Amendment truly means. Did the founders intend it to mean that states could arm a militia, or that individuals had a right to bear arms? A case that, hopefully, will shed much light on that question currently is before the U.S. Supreme Court.


Honest people carry firearms for self defense for the same reasons they carry fire extinguishers and first aid kits.

A handgun lawfully carried for self defense is equivalent to a fire extinguisher or first aid kit. No one claims that a fire extinguisher is a substitute for a fire truck nor a first aid kit for a doctor, and I won't claim my handgun is a substitute for a police officer. But the fire department says to have an extinguisher, and my doctor says to have a first aid kit, because they allow people the opportunity to help themselves while waiting for additional help to arrive. The same is true for a handgun. Police can't be everywhere at once, they will always respond to a violent crime too late to prevent the violence.

While you can run from a fire, and may be able to 'make-do' till medical aid arrives, if you're caught-up in a violent crime there is no substitute for a handgun. The farther from "civilization" you are the more true that fact becomes.

Dennis


“The Everglades has alligators, bear, panthers (though not many), poisonous snakes, dangerous wild boar, and the potential to run into two legged predators is there too. For the federal government to not allow law abiding citizens to legally do what they may throughout the rest of the parks in Florida is criminal and unconstitutional. This bill is long overdue, but better late than never."

So-if I read this statement correctly you, joe public, feel you have the right to defend yourself against dangerous nature found occurring, quite naturally, in the parks? If this is true, how do you decide when you need to defend yourself? Do you pull out your gun when careless campers leave food out in the campground and the curious bear comes to investigate? How about when the elks are in rut and they come to close to a public area, or even when a cougar crosses your trail in the backcountry? These situations occur daily in park units across the country and for 99.9% of the cases, you never hear about them because they resolve in a peaceful manner. When they don't resolve peacefully, the investigation often reveals human error (people feeding the animals in Death Valley are then attacked, bears becoming habituated to human garbage become aggressive). When parks make the decision to deal with aggressive animals, its after conditioning, consultation with wildlife experts, and careful consideration. How is the visitor trained to make these decisions?
Many of these animals, even by your own admission are rare. Let’s not encourage the public, which is often not prepared to deal with the wild megafauna, to shoot first and ask questions later. If the public was being eaten by bears at an alarming rate each year, I would support your argument to arm the public, but with the exception of the bear man movie of a few years ago, I know of no case of visitors being eaten by bears, large cats, or alligators in our national parks.


In my opinion, the senators supporting this care neither about the gun rights or national parks. They are just placating the NRA so they can get re-elected. Repealing the gun restrictions in the parks is a bad idea, but in the grand scheme it is a non-issue. To read a lengthier comment that I've written on this issue, you might read the following article on my web site:

http://www.yellowstoneecology.com/blog/?p=56

Mike Tercek


The Essential RVing Guide

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