Bush OKs easing of gun law for parks

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Some visitors to the nation’s parks and wildlife refuges will be allowed to carry loaded weapons beginning in January under a plan given final approval Friday by the Bush administration.

As expected, the Interior Department decided to scrap its longtime ban on loaded weapons. Under the new regulation, individuals will be allowed to carry loaded, concealed weapons in parks or wildlife refuges if they have state permits to carry concealed weapons in the state in which the national park or refuge is located.

Under current regulations, firearms in the national parks must be unloaded and inoperable. That means they must have trigger locks or be stored in a car trunk or in a special case.

Other existing regulations, such as limitations on poaching and target practice and prohibitions on carrying firearms in federal buildings, remain unchanged.

An Interior Department spokesman said the new regulation would take effect 30 days after it was published in the National Register, which should happen early next week. That means it will go into effect in the final days of Bush’s presidency, which ends Jan. 20.

The decision is a victory for the National Rifle Association, but critics said it would put the public at risk.

Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, called the decision “the Bush administration’s parting gift for the gun lobby.”

“We should not be making it easier for dangerous people to carry firearms in our parks,” he said.

Members of Congress were quick to react.

“While this is a positive step forward, we have to remain vigilant because there are many people in Congress and the incoming administration who strongly oppose our Second Amendment rights,” said Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over national parks and wildlife refuges.

Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., called it “a ridiculous action” and said she’d try to get it overturned.

“Once again the Bush administration has chosen ideology over common sense. ... There is absolutely no good reason for this change that will endanger the safety of national park visitors, staff and wildlife,” she said.