"[P]eople acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." - FDR

News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

OK Corral May Gain National Park Status

The Bush administration will likely spend its last year in power trying to accomplish through regulation what it cannot accomplish legislatively. Associated Press reporter Matthew Daly (via GovExec.com) portends another of these 11th hour administrative changes:

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Friday that his department will review gun laws on lands administered by the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Officials will draw up new rules by April 30 for public comment, Kempthorne said in a letter to 50 senators who requested the review.

The National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates hailed the announcement as the first step to relax a decades-old ban on bringing loaded firearms into national parks.

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) called the regulations "inconsistent." According to the article, "Crapo and other lawmakers had complained to Kempthorne that the existing guidelines were 'confusing, burdensome and unnecessary.' "

First, what is confusing about the existing regulations? Loaded guns are not allowed in national parks. If that confuses you, it is probably not appropriate for you to even have a gun in the first place.

Second, if anything is unnecessary, it's a gun in a national park. Citizens are not allowed to shoot things in national parks. Even if Interior changes the rules and allows guns in national parks, no one will be legally allowed to use them. A rule change would only serve to add unnecessary risk in areas where enjoyment and relaxation should be paramount.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees and other organizations are adamantly opposed to the rule change: "The groups say current regulations requiring that visitors to national parks render their weapons inaccessible were working and have made national parks among the safest places in America."

But, with the clock is running out on Bush, the National Park Service Retirees will take a back seat to the National Rifle Association every time.