Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - National Parks gun rule working

National Parks gun rule working

Mar 10, 2008 - 04:05:10 CDT

By Pete Hart
Livingston, Mont.

National parks are special places that enjoy the highest level of protection provided to public lands by Congress. Originally, the U.S. Army, and since its creation in 1916, the National Park Service, have continually worked to protect park resources and to inspire park visitors.

The Bush administration, in response to intense political pressure orchestrated by the National Rifle Association, has announced it will re-open the regulations governing firearms in our national parks. This brings up serious issues for park rangers, visitors and wildlife.

Poaching and resource degradation have been problems since Yellowstone was set aside as the world's first national park in 1872. In 1936, to address this issue, the secretary of the interior issued the first rules on firearms in national parks. The regulations prohibited anyone from carrying a gun within the parks unless they obtained written permission from a park officer and the weapon was sealed. The main objective of this rule was to protect park wildlife from poaching and to provide rangers with an enforcement tool.

In 1970, Congress declared that superlative natural, historic, and recreation areas should be managed as one seamless National Park System. In 1983, during the Reagan administration, park regulations were modified to apply to all park areas in the system. Firearms were allowed in national park areas as long as they were unloaded and stored out of easy reach. In those 60 park units where hunting is authorized, hunters are permitted to carry firearms during open hunting season.

The current firearms regulations have been in place now for 25 years. During my more than 38 years as a park ranger and a park manager, these regulations were developed with full public input and have worked well. The only clamor for change has come recently from the political arena. Crime in national park areas remains considerably lower than in surrounding communities, but when poachers, drug traffickers and other serious offenders are caught inside the parks, the current firearms restrictions add further weight to the government's prosecution of criminals. A person's failure to comply with the simple requirement of properly stowing a weapon can be an indication to rangers that something might be amiss.

Changing the regulations could open up some of the most remote parkland in the contiguous 48 states, including backcountry areas in Yellowstone, Glacier and Grand Teton, to people with any type of legal firearm. Increasingly, urban based visitors find themselves out of their comfort zone while enjoying their national parks. With that said, reasonable precautions such as bear awareness programs, food storage enforcement and the carrying of pepper spray by backcountry users have reduced bear encounters. If firearms are added to the equation, unintended results could be devastating to the individual, other backcountry users and wildlife.

Like our military reservations, veterans hospital grounds and other controlled federal installations, firearms and their use have long been restricted in our nearly 400 national park areas. To travel through the entrance station of a national park is to enter a special place. Long time NPS employee Bill Brown in his book, "Islands of Hope," characterized national parks as "sanctuaries of nature, as landmarks of history and culture, and as places of contemplation, discovery and adventure." He went on to say that there is another quality, an ambience of shared sociability and pleasure in these welcoming, neutral lands. Relaxing firearms regulations in the parks will be detrimental to the refuge ideal that national parks have come to signify for American families over the last century.

Our national park sites vary from Yellowstone to Independence Hall and from Theodore Roosevelt to the Lincoln Memorial. They are meant to be special places of inspiration and education with a sense of tranquility, history and beauty. The current regulations, which allow guns in parks with reasonable restrictions on how they are carried, have been working for many years. They protect the safety of humans and wildlife, but do not unduly infringe on gun ownership rights. The existing regulations do not limit the rights of law-abiding citizens any more than luggage searches or metal detectors at airports or federal buildings. Re-opening these regulations for review is unnecessary, and any proposed relaxation of these rules should be shot down.

(Hart served as a protection ranger, chief ranger and superintendent of 17 national park areas, from Theodore Roosevelt and Glacier to Great Smoky Mountains, for more than 38 years. He was superintendent of Theodore Roosevelt for several years in the '90s. He now lives in Livingston, Mont. - Editor)

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Comments

Tina wrote on Mar 11, 2008 4:28 PM:

" The passion that gun laws/regulations induce gives hope to the "small" issues of our time, like our children's education. The topic of “children” brings to mind Gun Owner's comment on the right of people to protect "there" families. A persons’ right to protect his or her family ends at the front door or property line, depending on the state. People who carry “there guns with legal concealed weapons permits are not criminals” so long as they follow the laws of the state where the permit was issued. Many jurisdictions prohibit guns, even with permits, from being carried into government buildings like courthouses. The right to carry a concealed weapon also ends at the state line. Because each state has different requirements for obtaining a concealed weapon permit, the federal government would be hard pressed to recognize the permits as it does driver’s licenses. There are requirements for obtaining a driver’s license that are common to all states, like proof of citizenship, that allows the federal government to recognize identification cards issued by individual states as proof of identification.

Several people have pointed out that “shooting sprees” have occurred in gun free zones, “such as Shopping malls & schools,” where people are “Nothing but hundreds of unarmed ‘Targets’ running around.” To compare people in shopping malls and schools to those in National Park Areas is erroneous. Shopping malls and schools are places that have little to no law enforcement presence. Urban National Park Areas, like those in D.C. are more likely to become target of “shooting sprees” than the rural/wilderness areas. Urban National Park Areas, because they are higher profile, have a higher concentration of law enforcement personnel present and ready to respond to reports of violence than malls or schools.

National Park Areas are currently “gun free zones.” Those that currently visit National Park Areas, either urban or wilderness, do not seem to have issues with the current firearm restrictions. Though it is cliché to say this, “If it’s not broken, why fix it?"
"

Tom wrote on Mar 11, 2008 1:47 PM:

" Politics are a funny thing. I don’t understand why the NRA would care much about firearms in National Park areas. In the parks that are open to hunting you can carry a gun for hunting purposes during hunting season. As a gun owner, national park lover and federal law enforcement officer I have no problem with the fact that I can’t carry a gun in a national park area unless I’m on-duty. The prohibition of firearms on certain federal reservations is a necessary enforcement tool. The only people on military reservations with firearms are the security and law enforcement units for obvious reasons. The only people in national parks that should have firearms are the law enforcement staff. The reasons may not be as clear, but a L.E. ranger that stops a group of armed men in a park where guns are allowed would have no recourse to prevent poaching until he witnessed an animal taken on the property. "

Mike R wrote on Mar 10, 2008 8:38 PM:

" For those of you who think it is wrong to ask "what if", and to those of you who say there haven't been any shooting sprees in the national park system yet (YET!), let me ask you this. Where have all the high profile mass shootings been? That,s right - gun free zones where the only person with a gun was the criminal. Nothing but hundreds of unarmed "Targets" running around with no way of defending themselves. After all the shootings in gun-free zones, I find it hard to believe that so many people still think they are a good idea. No - none of them have been in a national park YET. What about the very first school shooting? It had never happened before but did that mean it never could? Obviously the answer is NO. Could it happen in a national park? Obviously the answer is YES. "

Gun totin' fool wrote on Mar 10, 2008 2:36 PM:

" Ummm... what's the problem here? I've been a gun owner, an NRA member, and a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment for a long time. Not once have I felt the need to carry a gun in a National Park. Why change it if it's working??? "

to dubbles wrote on Mar 10, 2008 12:52 PM:

" Haven't been to yellowstone in the last 30 years I guess. Federal parks are ALREADY firearm free, except for law enforcement on duty. Park rangers do NOT carry firearms. Ask any park ranger, they would much rather have a can of pepper spray then a gun. With a weapon you statistically have about a 50/50 chance of stopping a charging bear. Pepper spray is up around 90% effective.

"

Deb wrote on Mar 10, 2008 9:59 AM:

" Gun Owner: uhmm... this is the opinion of a writer who sent a letter to this newspaper. It's not an article. Now, go back to your cellar and hide from the dirty Commies. "

PO3 wrote on Mar 10, 2008 9:58 AM:

" Liberals come you need to ask the question what if? What if this happens because no law biding citizens can carry guns into parks. What if a park ranger is shoot, what if what if. Hasn't happened anywhere in the past, but hey what if? Editor I know this won't pass your politically correct test but hey what if you did print this? "

dubbles wrote on Mar 10, 2008 5:55 AM:

" Gun Free zones are aticking time bombs. Where have all the recent shootings taken place? GUN FREE ZONES, such as Shopping malls & schools. If they want to ban people from carrying weapons into these parks, then they also need to ban the firearms the protection rangers/police are carrying in the parks too and just give them pepper spray. Wait and see the uproar from the police people on that idea. People have a right to protect themselves wether it be from animals or other humans. Alot of bad things can happen when your in a huge park that is sparsely populated and probably without reliable cell phone coverage. "

Gun Owner wrote on Mar 10, 2008 5:47 AM:

" I believe this is a bias report with little input from law abiding gun owners. The right of people to carry guns to protect there families should extend to every corner of this country. This article failed to address the fact that those who carry there guns with legal concealed weapons permits are not criminals. These people have taken extraordinary measures to obtain a license and it should be recognized by the federal government just as our driver’s license is recognized. "

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