Winchester 73
member
The Miami Herald knows best.Is there a more anti-gun,anti freedom newspaper in the whole U.S. of A?
Editorial January 15,2008
OUR OPINION: SENATE MOVE TO CHANGE MODEST LIMITS IS PURELY POLITICAL
Welcome to the American national park system where the camper in the next space over may be packing heat. What a peaceful thought as you try to snooze under the stars.
Yet, there's a letter circulating in the U.S. Senate that has attracted 47 signatures including that of Florida Republican Mel Martinez, aimed at easing federal regulations on the carrying of firearms in national parks.
Consistent policy
Written by Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, the letter is directed to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and seems reasonable on its face. It would require the park system to recognize state firearms laws in national parks. This would make department policy consistent because state firearms laws apply on other Interior lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The proposal doesn't turn the national parks into a Wild West of gun-toting hikers, but it isn't necessary. Currently, the park system permits the presence of guns for authorized hunting and target shooting and allows park-goers to carry guns in car trunks or other areas of vehicles that aren't readily accessible. But holders of state gun permits aren't permitted to openly carry accessible weapons.
• First off, these are national parks with visitors from states throughout the nation with a variety of weapons laws. The interests of consistency should lie with all visitors at all national parks. It should be little more than a minor annoyance for, say, residents of states bordering Yellowstone to stow their rifles when driving through the park.
• Second, there simply is no good reason to have a weapon handy while visiting a park. The numbers of attacks by wild animals on park visitors complying with park rules and the dictates of common sense do not justify the danger to others of, say, city folk firing at strange noises in the night, which may be someone else at the campsite or a bear more interested in potato chips that weren't properly stowed than in human morsels in the tent.
• Third, national parks aren't hotbeds of crime, but they do suffer from an overtaxed ranger service that doesn't need more law-enforcement responsibilities. Throw in the accessibility of guns -- and the perception that it's OK to have guns in the parks -- with the mindlessness some display when on vacation, and the mix isn't pretty. Nor should rangers be faced with yet more complications for controlling illegal hunting and poaching in parks.
The current regulations have been in effect for more than two decades. Changing them doesn't solve a pressing problem in the parks; rather it serves only to make a political statement at the expense of the safety of people and wildlife they come to see.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/379590.html
Editorial January 15,2008
OUR OPINION: SENATE MOVE TO CHANGE MODEST LIMITS IS PURELY POLITICAL
Welcome to the American national park system where the camper in the next space over may be packing heat. What a peaceful thought as you try to snooze under the stars.
Yet, there's a letter circulating in the U.S. Senate that has attracted 47 signatures including that of Florida Republican Mel Martinez, aimed at easing federal regulations on the carrying of firearms in national parks.
Consistent policy
Written by Idaho Republican Mike Crapo, the letter is directed to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and seems reasonable on its face. It would require the park system to recognize state firearms laws in national parks. This would make department policy consistent because state firearms laws apply on other Interior lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.
The proposal doesn't turn the national parks into a Wild West of gun-toting hikers, but it isn't necessary. Currently, the park system permits the presence of guns for authorized hunting and target shooting and allows park-goers to carry guns in car trunks or other areas of vehicles that aren't readily accessible. But holders of state gun permits aren't permitted to openly carry accessible weapons.
• First off, these are national parks with visitors from states throughout the nation with a variety of weapons laws. The interests of consistency should lie with all visitors at all national parks. It should be little more than a minor annoyance for, say, residents of states bordering Yellowstone to stow their rifles when driving through the park.
• Second, there simply is no good reason to have a weapon handy while visiting a park. The numbers of attacks by wild animals on park visitors complying with park rules and the dictates of common sense do not justify the danger to others of, say, city folk firing at strange noises in the night, which may be someone else at the campsite or a bear more interested in potato chips that weren't properly stowed than in human morsels in the tent.
• Third, national parks aren't hotbeds of crime, but they do suffer from an overtaxed ranger service that doesn't need more law-enforcement responsibilities. Throw in the accessibility of guns -- and the perception that it's OK to have guns in the parks -- with the mindlessness some display when on vacation, and the mix isn't pretty. Nor should rangers be faced with yet more complications for controlling illegal hunting and poaching in parks.
The current regulations have been in effect for more than two decades. Changing them doesn't solve a pressing problem in the parks; rather it serves only to make a political statement at the expense of the safety of people and wildlife they come to see.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/379590.html
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