Posted on 08/21/2004 10:36:08 AM PDT by Mulder
This was posted over on thehighroad.org. Also, Phil VanCleave, head of VCDL, has a thread posted over on packing.org.
There is currently a country wide campaign started this week to get the secretary of the Interior, (who packs herself) to change the policy and let CCW holders in U.S. Parks. Perhaps some of you have read this at Packing.org already. We should continue to contact the Secretary of the Interior, who could make the change without Congress' approval:
Ms. Gale Norton Secretary of the Interior U.S. Department of the Interior Dept. HG, 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 Phone: (202) 208-7351 gale_norton@ios.doi.gov
How much do you want to bet that 3,100 emails and phone calls will get her attention?
Suggested email:
Dear Secretary Norton,
The regulations for federal parks need to be revised. Any citizen who is trusted by a state to carry a handgun for self-defense needs to be allowed to carry that handgun in federal parks. This can be accomplished easily using the same mechanism that is used in federal forests: have the park regulations assimilate the host state's firearms laws.
Criminals know no boundaries. Parks, often with remote areas, are not immune from violent crime. My right to defend my life and the lives of my family should not end at an artificial boundary that violent criminals will never respect.
Please let me know what you are going to do to protect my right to self-defense.
Sincerely, [name and address]
ping
Makes sense to me... But I still think we need to find some way to guarantee second amendment rights and ensure responsible gun ownership and use.
I would hate to be shot by a fellow camper because they were twitchy on the trigger.
The dawn of reciprocity.
Would this include Ft. Marcy Park? I hear that's a dangerous place.
I didn't say that. I just think there are too many "casual" gun owners who don't respect the weapons they carry... Essentially, people who have seen too many westerns and think the gun makes them a cowboy.
I'm sure that most gun owners are responsible with their weapons, and that probably goes for most gun owners.
But when I think of a "casual" gun owner, I just get chills and hope they forget how to disengage the safety.
I guess you've never read the statistics on improper use of handguns by CCW holders.
You're more likely to get struck by lightning than shot by a fellow camper.
We rounded a bend, and the guides we were travelling with dismounted and took out their guns.
My eyes bugged out. At home, I didn't know anybody who had a gun, and I didn't know anybody who broke the law.
After riding for a couple of hours, I worked up the courage to ask the head guy about it, and he revealed a Law of Nature I hadn't studied in school:
"Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six".
Presumably, this rule is still in effect, even in out National Parks.
Yeah... those guys are all working for the feds.
Over 4 million Americans now possess CCW permits from the 35 or so states that issue them. Millions more live in states where open carry is legal without a permit, or carrying in your car without a permit is legal.
In a country with 300 million guns, 100 million gun onwers, and tens of millions carrying guns everyday, the percentage of accidents or crimes committed by the average gun owner is nearly zero.
Yet some people keep making reference to the 'wild west', despite being proven wrong time after time after time.
The article is about CCW permit holders... do they fit your definition of casual gun owners?
In my state, CCW holders are allowed to carry in state parks, and there have been no shootem-ups.
I don't spend time in National Parks for just that reason. In fact I vist no place that doesn't allow or trust me to defend myself or my loved ones. If the sign says no firearms then I don't go.......period.
I'd like to say I don't spend my dollars at such places but uncle sugar keeps giving em my tax dollars so the point is pretty much moot as to economics per se........
Stay safe !
Amazing ain't it..........
I think most people ignore those signs also. Most folks realize that their safety trumps bureaucratic edicts.
There is no federal law banning firearms in national parks; only administrative edict. I would think the most they could do is ask you to leave. But they'd have to catch you first.
I view the objective of this effort to remove the "no guns" signs in parks, which would 1) prevent park rangers from harassing folks who are peaceably carrying, and 2) encourage Americans that currently obey the signs to carry once the signs are gone.
Stupid laws deserve to be ignored.
Personally, I'd just rather see them get rid of the "no guns" edict altogether, CCW permit or not.
It would be nice to be able to open carry on some of the hiking trails in parks without worrying about some ranger harassing you.
I wasn't the one who made the reference to the wild west. Someone else added it to my comments.
And I'm not talking about the CCW people. I have no problem with them.
Casual gun owners should scare everyone... It is a mindset that scares me... Like someone casually playing with a machete...
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