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GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK, Nev., -- Officials at Nevada's Great Basin National Park said they are trying to determine the origins of a 132-year-old rifle found leaning against a tree. Park officials said the rifle, identified by an engraving on its side as a Model 1873 Winchester manufactured in 1882, was found blending in with the colors of a juniper tree in the park and seems to have been there for "many years." The officials wrote on the park's Facebook page the rifle was "exposed to sun, wind, snow, and rain" and features "a cracked wood stock, weathered to grey"...

Archaeologists traversing the Great Basin National Park in Nevada came across an interesting find: a 132-year-old Winchester Model 1873 repeating rifle. The Facebook page for Great Basin National Park said in a post last week that researchers found the rifle, known as “the gun that won the West,” leaning up against a tree. “The 132 year-old rifle, exposed to sun, wind, snow, and rain was found leaning against a tree in the park. The cracked wood stock, weathered to grey, and the brown rusted barrel blended into the colors of the old juniper tree in a remote rocky outcrop, keeping...

Archaeologists conducting surveys in Nevada’s Great Basin National Park came upon a gun frozen in time: a .44-40 Winchester rifle manufactured in 1882. It was propped up against a juniper tree.

Hunters may be hired to kill 2,800 deer on Civil War battlefields By Dante D'Orazio on August 2, 2014 04:47 pm   (Scott Bauer, US Department of Agriculture / Flickr)  7inShare Civil War battlefields may soon light up with gunfire once again if a new plan to "reduce" deer populations gets approved. The US National Parks Service has proposed a $1.8 million plan to hire sharpshooters to hunt and kill white-tailed deer at three Civil War battlefields over the next five years.Deer populations at the Antietam and Monocacy battlefields, located in Maryland, as well as the Manassas battlefield in Virginia, are far...

The Interior Department announced today that the National Park Service is launching a study to “identify places and events associated with the story of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans” for inclusion in the national parks system. The National Historic Landmark Program began actively looking for sites associated with LGBT history in 2010 for the potential of being listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Today’s directive, part of a broader administration initiative to “ensure that the National Park Service reflects and tells a more complete story of the people and events responsible for building this nation,” will...

After losing his father to the fertilizer plant explosion that almost destroyed his hometown, Parker Pustejovsky is spearheading the effort to recover—and he’s barely old enough to read. WEST, Texas — One year ago on April 17, five-year-old Parker Pustejovsky lost his father in the fertilizer plant explosion that wrecked the small Texas town of West. Joey Pustejovsky was one of 10 first responders to die trying to put out the fire that precipitated the blast. It wasn’t long before young Parker declared he would rebuild the city park, stripped bare by the explosion—and he’d do it by selling hot...

Lucas St. Clair pulled up to an overlook in Maine’s North Woods to a stunning vista of Mount Katahdin, the state’s highest peak and the endpoint of the Appalachian Trail. Stretched out below was a vast green carpet of pine and spruce flecked with golden aspens and blazing red maples; Millinocket Lake glistened in the distance.“I think it’s national-park worthy,” he said.This was not an idle observation. Mr. St. Clair and his mother, Roxanne Quimby, who owns the land, have been trying for years to turn these woods into a national park. But ferocious opposition has stalled their plan, partly...

Wisconsin authorities thought they could curb libidos at the state's nude beach by closing it on weekdays, but citation data shows the move just shifted the hanky-panky to the weekends. The Department of Natural Resources issued 13 citations at the beach between June and early October this year. All were for sex, and 11 were issued on weekends. Those numbers are down from 2012 totals, but wardens said the problem is far more prevalent than the numbers suggest. All the citations were issued during just seven days of surveillance and some people seen having sex ran off before wardens could...

Cmte. Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) holds another in a series of hearings on the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the rollout of the government's healthcare website. The administration says the website will be fixed by the end of November.

A planned immigration reform rally will take place on the National Mall on Tuesday even though the site is closed due to the government shutdown. Organizers for the "Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform" were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday. A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown. Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to

Let it be known: McCovey Cove doesn't have a monopoly on strange watery MLB happenings. The scene on the Allegheny River outside PNC Park was as wacky as anything we've seen in San Francisco on Sunday, as a fan appeared to have brought a hoverboard to the Cubs-Pirates game. Marty McFly would have been proud -- and after all, we're only two years away from these things being widely available:

A brutal beating of a Buffalo, N.Y. senior was caught on video. WGRZ-TV was given a video of a Buffalo man who was brutally beaten by a group of high school student. The incident happened in North Buffalo at Shoshone Park two weeks ago as James LeGrand, who is a part of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown’s Impact Team, was in the park’s parking lot when he noticed two girls arguing with a bunch of student who surrounded them and were encouraging them to fight. He tried to break up the fight several times and then got a camera and started...

San Francisco park workers and volunteers spent much of Sunday picking up and hauling away 10,000 pounds of garbage strewn all over the eastern part of Golden Gate Park known as Hippie Hill, the remnants of Saturday's annual yet unofficial pot-smoking bacchanalia. But this year's annual celebration - which falls each year on April 20 and is known as "420" - drew a larger-than-average crowd of between 10,000 and 15,000 revelers on the warm weekend day. They proceeded to smoke, drink, eat and rack up more than $10,000 in costs for city crews to clean up the mess, ironically just...

Charlotte, NC --(Ammoland.com)- Yesterday, the State Parks Division of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department held a public hearing to accept input on proposed amendments to Section 19.5.2.21 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, which includes a removal of the current ban on concealed handgun licensees carrying handguns in state parks. A representative from the NRA-ILA testified in support of this rule change, along with several concealed handgun instructors from across the state. No one spoke in opposition to this proposal. The Department will continue to accept written comments on the measure until 5:00pm on October 31....

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A state agency is proposing to allow people licensed to carry a concealed handgun to bring their loaded weapons into a New Mexico state park.

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- Wednesday Sept 19th, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors had a hearing on fixing a poorly-worded ordinance which confused some Chesterfield police officers into unlawfully kicking a gun owner out of a Chesterfield park. Here is the old wording: “Sec. 14-11 (B) No person shall transport, possess or carry a loaded firearm within 100 yards of any property line of any county public school or county park, except as otherwise permitted by state law.” The County Attorney recommended this change: “Sec. 14-11 (B) No HUNTER shall transport, possess or carry a loaded firearm within 100 yards of any...

Chalk up another life saved by a gun. Huh? No really, it happens once in a while. And like lots of unreported DGUs, this won’t show up on any FBI statistical breakdown. Tim Bailey was on a 36-mile hike through Olympic National Park in Washington last Sunday – with his gun! – when he tumbled 150 feet down a ravine and broke his ankle. Though unable to get far, he had enough gear and smarts to keep himself alive for almost four days ’til help arrived. And he used his .45 to get the attention of rescuers . . ....

Surprise visitor (at about 1:30) during performance by Josh Williams at the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival at Denton Farm Park in Denton, NC on May 5, 2011.

Today in 1955 was the opening day of Disneyland with an hour long special on ABC (attached). Ronald Reagan is one of the narrators. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuzrZET-3Ew

Police removed a mentally disturbed man in an Elmo costume from New York City’s Central Park Zoo on Sunday afternoon. The man was spouting anti-Jewish insults, including encouraging visitors at the zoo to read “The International Jew” — an anti-Semitic series of pamphlets published by Henry Ford. The anti-Semitic Elmo made his first appearance in 2009 in Times Square, demanding people give him money to take pictures of him. Berating people who refused to give him money, Elmo said, “Elmo needs to make a living too.” He popped up again in 2010. When observers Sunday told the Elmo to get...