As you contemplate this latest decision from the U.S. Supreme Court overturning a Washington, D.C., ban on guns, consider what’s underway in our National Parks.
Back in February, WW reported on a proposal from Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.) and other lawmakers like Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.). Their plan aims to ease restrictions on gun laws in National Parks.
Currently, it’s permissible to carry only unloaded, stored weapons on park land. (That’s assuming you have a permit, and you’re following all other applicable laws.) Smith and half of our nation’s senators say this should change; they say folks with permits in states that allow it should be able to carry loaded weapons in places like Crater Lake National Park.
At the time of the article, the Interior Department had not acted on Smith’s proposal. Now, despite outcry from conservationists, the Association of National Park Rangers, the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, and all seven surviving former directors of the National Park Service, the federal agency started accepting public comment on the proposal.
That period ends June 30 and groups that oppose the effort, including the National Parks Conservation Association, are still raising hell. More information is available at their website.
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"Currently, it’s permissible to carry only unloaded, stored weapons on park land. (That’s assuming you have a permit, and you’re following all other applicable laws.)"
You do not have to have a permit to carry a rifle or shotgun in these areas. The only guns that you have to have a permit for are hand guns.
But under current law, you’re not allowed to carry any gun on park lands. They all have to be unloaded and stored.
I did not dispute that fact. The point is no permit is required anywhere on public lands so your side comment is irrelevant and should not have been included in the article.
Ok. Your second point does not make the same point your first one made. But now I understand what you’re saying. So thanks for chiming in. Your first comment made it sound as though you thought people could carry rifles or shotguns across National Parks — and you definitely can’t.