Secretary of Interior Dirk Kempthorne recently announced that the government is accepting comments on the Bush administration’s recent proposal to allow concealed weapons in national parks and national wildlife refuges, which would overturn a 25-year-old regulation that has required guns be unloaded and placed out of sight, such as in the trunk of the owner’s car.

According to the Associated Press:

“The safety and protection of park and refuge visitors remains a top priority for the Department of the Interior,” Kempthorne said in a statement.

The proposed rule change would incorporate current state laws authorizing the possession of concealed firearms “while continuing to maintain important provisions to ensure visitor safety and resource protection,” he said.

Park rangers, retirees and conservation groups protested the plan, saying it will lead to confusion for visitors, rangers and other law enforcement agencies.

“This is purely and simply a politically driven effort to solve a problem that doesn’t exist,” said Bill Wade, chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.

There is no data to suggest that the public would be served by allowing visitors to parks to possess concealed handguns, Wade and other critics said. They cited statistics showing that national parks are among the safest places in the country. The probability of becoming a victim of a violent crime in a national park is 1 in more than 708,000 — less likely than being struck by lightning, the groups said.

“This proposed regulation increases the risk to visitors, employees and wildlife rather than reducing it,” Wade said.

One likely rational for politicians pushing this issue now — in the twilight of the Bush administration’s rule — is that this is nothing more than an election-year stunt aimed at wooing support from the NRA and its members. The NRA has been pushing for the abolishment of this rule for some time, yet only now do certain politicians feel the need to push it through.

Read my blog post from January 11 to learn more about the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees and their objections to this rule change. This is a group of people who most definitely know what it means to actually work and interact with citizens on public land.

The official rule change can be found here. Note that the public has until the end of June to register their comments about the rule change. Go to Regulations.gov to submit your comments electronically for item number 1024-AD70.

Also, comments can be mailed to:
Public Comments Processing, Attn: 1024-AD70
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203.

Tags:
wildlife, wildlife refuge, guns, National Wildlife Refuge System, Department of Interior