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.
Once again. The govmnt wants us to think that it will protect us from predators. Of course, it won't. It has taken away our right to protect ourselves again.
The Roswell News & Space Watch
by Cletus Rattmann
Let’s see how many reasons there are to allow a free press in a civil society.
Perhaps you might encounter a conservative 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, criminal aliens. Perhaps a little paranoia had set in since you climbed out of bed that morning and you thought you needed a bad temper and an unrestrained press to ward off any attackers - real or imagined.
Surely there are others, but none of them are particularly legitimate. Yet, incoming U.S. Sen. Jim Webb wants to enhance his already crippled reputation with legislation that would let anyone write about anything, whether he approves or not. Such freedom is now nearly absolute but Webb and others (including Nancy Pelosi, Charles Rangel, Henry Waxman, and The Supreme Court) think that ought to be changed.
“The Constitution grants ‘freedom of the press,’ notes Webb, not ‘freedom of the internet or freedom of Fox News.’ There is no legal authority for those in either medium who make public things of which I personally disapprove.” Webb, and a small group of fellow legislators is even now working on a proposed Constitutional amendment to close this “press loophole,” as it is being referred to…
Parks have bears and we have a right to keep and arm bears.
The prohibition applies only to NPS National Parks, generally not to National Forests or BLM lands, etc. And most of those prohibitions are on ALL firearms, concealed or not.
Allowing concealed carry means you can carry under or over your jacket, without the concern that you're violating federal law by doing one versus the other. Antigunners can't comprehend the very simple relationship between a holster, a belt, and the length of one's jacket.
Beat me to it, but that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the title.
Precisely, look at how well it protected people in New Orleans.
Gun confiscations and the criminals were given free reign.
Actually this gives me hope. If you can be as stupid and uninformed as this writer is and get a gig writing editorials, maybe even I can get a paying job!
Rattle snakes? I was thinking maybe bears or dangerous humans. Why would they be any less necessary in a park than anywhere else?
This is a huge red herring.
Promote true environmentalism: feed Liberals to bears.
God may have made Adam and Eve but Colt made them equal.Amen.
This happened this week, in Virginia Beach
A naked man attacked a woman walking her dog on a trail in First Landing State Park on Tuesday afternoon. Two other women then rushed to fend off the attack.
Police arrested Jason Kurt Mintel, 33, of the 2800 block of Bayville Road. He faces charges of attempted rape, abuduction and two counts of assaulting police officers.
The incident began when the victim met a mother and her daughter while walking on Osmanthus Trail. Down the path, the mother and daughter saw the victim’s dog darting by, then heard screams.
The two women ran up the path and saw the other woman fighting off a naked man.
The man was on top of the victim, whose wrists were wrapped around a leash, police spokeswoman Rene Ball said.
One woman grabbed a stick and hit the man while her daughter called 911, but she could not tell dispatchers exactly where they were.
The man grabbed the woman’s daughter, reached for the cell phone and tried to take off the woman’s clothes, Ball said. He also tried to attack the first woman again.
Suddenly, Ball said, the man stopped and began hopping up and down and singing a song. The women played along until police arrived. Ball said the assailant then punched an officer in the face and hit another with a stick.
The women were not injured.
The man was taken to the hospital for injuries he sustained and because police believe drugs may have been involved.
Disarm Park Rangers, take their badges, take their symbols of alleged authority, make them stewards and caretakers AS WAS INTENDED and I'll consider giving up my Constitutionally Garuanteed RIGHT to carry a weapon ANYWHERE in these United States, Concealed or not.
Altho I'll never willingly concede my 2nd amendment rights until the day God calls me home.
Parks have bears and we have a right to keep and arm bears.""
Our National Parks are more and more being used by illegal intruders to grow parge areas of Marijuana. They are armed, and if an unsuspecting hiker or fisherman encounters them unarmed, they are toast.
These large grows are so dangerous, that Kalifornia county mounties cannot get enough sheriff deputies at one time to make a raid. They are finding larger and larger grows deeper and deeper into the woods.
How about CENTRAL PARK??
I don't know about anyone else, but Central Park late at night in NYC would be a good place to have a concealed pistol. How about Grant Park in Chicago? WHat about Yosemeti? There are quite a few arguments I can make for carrying a fire arm in parks. In IN, it is now legal to carry in State Parks.
Ironically, large national parks are a great place for predetors to find victims and get away with their crimes.
I haven't even started about wildlife.
Well, aside from the various stories readily available on Google about hikers being murdered in parks, maybe. Like the two women who got their throats slashed on the Appalachian Trail in '96. I bet they wish they'd had a gun.
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