Posted on 11/30/2006 9:58:07 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
Let’s see how many reasons there are to carry a concealed weapon into a national park.
Perhaps you might encounter a rattlesnake or some other potentially deadly critter that would pose a threat. Perhaps you were with an argumentative acquaintance who had pushed you to the limit in a discussion over, well, gun control. Perhaps a little paranoia had set in since you climbed out of bed that morning and you thought you needed a concealed weapon to ward off any attackers - real or imagined.
Surely there are others, but none of them are particularly legitimate. Yet, outgoing U.S. Sen. George Allen wants to put a cap on his one-term career in the Senate with legislation that would let visitors carry a concealed weapon into a national park.
Such weapons are now banned and they ought to remain banned.
Peter Hardin of Media General News Service detailed Allen’s last legislative hurrah in a story last week. He noted that the Virginia Republican wrote in a letter to the Virginia Gun Owners Association three days before the election that since the secretary of the Interior has refused to repeal the gun ban in national parks, he would introduce legislation to that effect in the lame-duck session of Congress.
With Democrats about to take over Congress, it is not likely that the controversial measure will gain approval in this session. If not passed, the bill would not carry over to the next Congress.
But that may not be necessary since Senator-elect Jim Webb, the Democrat who defeated Allen, has promised to submit a similar bill and will work for its passage. His proposal is no better than Allen’s.
While carrying or possessing loaded firearms in park areas is generally prohibited, some parks authorize hunting and do permit firearms during open hunting season.
Which is fine. But why the need to carry concealed weapons into a national park?
A National Park Service spokesman told Hardin that serious crimes against individuals in the parks are extremely rare and there is no data demonstrating a need for visitors to carry concealed weapons.
Spokesman David Barna said that allowing people “with minimal or no training to carry firearms in national park areas will not lower the already negligible crime rate.” He added that it could “increase the possibility of basic altercations turning into something much more serious.”
While the Gun Owners Coalition naturally supports the measure, many others do not, including Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He said he hoped the bill would die in the Senate, adding, “I don’t think there’s ... any reason why we need this.”
He’s right. National parks are refuges for nature and open vistas and trails and creeks and streams. They are places where people can escape from the weary rush of life into a peaceful realm that’s quiet. They don’t need to have to be worried about whether the guy approaching on one of the trails is packing a concealed weapon.
And they won’t have to worry about that if the Senate does what it should do with Allen’s bill - consign it to the legislative ash heap.
Yeah... whatever...
"Gun control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound." — L. Neil Smith
The Founders didn't *give* any rights -- they listed and recognized God-given rights that the government has a duty to protect.
Repealing state gun laws is a separate fight, one that will involve state legislatures and courts and won't happen overnight. Certainly not in a short lame-duck session. What Congress can do, without anyone else's approval other than the president's signature, is repeal the federal law and make the law the same on both sides of the park gate.
Toooouuuucheeeee!!!
Love it!!!
The main reason, if one is needed is "self-defence": Self-defence from people out to do you harm, steal your stuff,
and from rogue black bears, wolves, and Grizzly Bears.
Ugh, that photo is a bit inappropriate. How about a description and a link, so those of us who don't want to look at it don't have to.
BUT IT'S NOW GONE!
Not many things are so peaceful as a concealed weapon.
I don't even care about concealed carry...how about a simple OPEN CARRY law in NP's? That way the paranoid don't need to worry about who is packing and who isn't. It'll all be out in the open.
I hike the mountain ranges along the west coast every summer, including within the national parks, and I have never done so unarmed. Over the past 15 years, this has twice saved people from potentially being mauled. The first was on the Yosemite/Emigrant border, when an unhealthy looking black bear began stalking and charging a large group of hikers on the trail. We were a solid days hike from the nearest ranger station, and it was obvious that someone was going to get mauled if the bear weren't chased off (the bear looked to be injured and starving already). I pulled my handgun, shot it once in the foreleg, and it ran off into the forest. The second time the weapon was needed, it was to scare off a stalking mountain lion. I didn't shoot that one, but it certainly didn't care for the spray of gravel its face caught when I shot the ground in front of it.
My pack has a concealed compartment specifically built in to protect my handgun and yet allow quick access when needed. Still, I would prefer not to need it at all. My pack rifle, which I carry when hiking in areas where no-carry laws aren't an issue, is far more accurate and having it attached to the exterior of the pack makes access easier. Nobody should have to use a handgun to ward off a wild predator, and all these laws have done is force people to pack small concealable handguns rather than safer and more effective pack rifles.
Was it worse than the pictures of our guys tortured, killed, mutilated, burned and hung up on the bridge in Faluja?
Yes.
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