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Don't Take Away Loaded Gun Restrictions In National Parks

Target: U.S. Senate and Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary of the Interior
Sponsored by: National Parks Conservation Association

America's national parks embody the American spirit. They are vital to the survival of many animal species, and offer countless educational experiences for children of all ages.

The National Park Service has reasonable guidelines about firearms in national parks. It is currently lawful to transport firearms through national parks as long as they are unloaded and stored.

But an amendment pending before the Senate could change gun policy in the parks and make it more difficult for the Park Service to enforce weapons restrictions as they apply from state to state. This is a bad idea for wildlife, for park rangers and for the thousands of families who visit the parks each year.

An amendment allowing loaded guns in the parks could:

Make poaching of park wildlife easier.
Change the relationship between rangers and visitors.
Create new safety hazards.

A group of Senators mistakenly thought all firearms were prohibited in parks. Please let them know there are meaningful and reasonable rules already in place.

Urge the Senate and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to say NO to the loaded guns in parks amendment.

deadline: Ongoing...
goal: 15,000

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Dear Senator [Name] and Secretary Kempthorne,

I am writing to urge to say NO to the Coburn's "loaded guns in the parks" amendment.

For more than a year now, Coburn has been holding up a slew of public lands bills in the Senate. Coburn's amendment could jeopardize those bills, bills that are positive for our nation's public lands.

The amendment falsely claims that firearms cannot be taken into national parks. It also will create confusion and legal conflict across our popular, beloved and under-funded National Park System.

- Creates New Safety Hazards: Kite flying is prohibited in Gravelly Point, a parcel along the George Washington Memorial Parkway adjacent to Washington's Reagan National Airport, because threats to flight safety. It's conceivable that the Coburn amendment would allow loaded, ready to fire weapons on that same spot.

- Makes It Harder to Protect Our Nation's Icons: At beloved icons, such as Mount Rushmore, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Cape Canaveral, or the St. Louis Arch, it could be more difficult to protect visitors against terrorism.

- Increases Opportunities for Vandalism: Fragile park natural resources, such as cacti found in Saguaro National Park, or remote cultural resources found in many of our parks will more likely become the victims of vandalism through target practice.

- Makes Poaching of Park Wildlife Easier: Poachers could operate with impunity because rangers could lack the authority to question individuals about their loaded weapons. The agency believes that poaching is a significant factor in the decline of at least 29 species of wildlife and could cause the extirpation of 19 species from the parks. For example, in Shenandoah National Park, black bears are illegally hunted for their gallbladders, which are used in traditional Asian medicines.

- Creates Confusion for Visitors to Parks that Straddle Multiple States: Death Valley is in California and Nevada. Yellowstone is in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Tennessee and North Carolina. Some of these states have very different firearms laws. Which state laws will apply? How will visitors or park rangers readily understand such a confusing system?

- Changes Relationship Between Rangers and Visitors: Rangers approach visitors in most situations with the assumption that the visitors do not have loaded weapons on them. The Coburn amendment would change that dynamic and cause rangers to be more suspicious and wary when meeting visitors, especially in the back country.

[Your comment here]

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

We signed the “Don't Take Away Loaded Gun Restrictions In National Parks” letter!

# 100:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Jackie Goldberg, California
I go National parks to get away from the guns and violoence of urban areas.

# 99:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Miriam Polcino, California

# 98:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Scott Kelly, North Carolina

# 97:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Name not displayed, Washington

# 96:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Sandy Pelland, New Jersey
A national park is a safe haven for both people and wildlife. Guns should not be allowed under any circumstances.

# 95:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Name not displayed, Illinois

# 94:

3:00 pm PST, Feb 13, Name not displayed, Massachusetts
We already make it much too easy to obtain firearms in this country and allowing people to carry them in national parks is asking for more trouble. PLEASE don't allow this! People, animals, and wildlife deserve better protection.

# 93:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Ruthann Cohn, Ohio

# 92:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Joey Huxley, Florida
Weapons are necessary for many things, including protecting American Freedoms, however, there is no need for weapons in public national parks. Please do not remove the gun restriction. There is no logical reason to make it easier for people to carry guns through national parks. Only unneeded deaths to park rangers and innocent animals can occur from this movement.

# 91:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Kent Cole, Texas

# 90:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Sylvia Kent, Florida
The current regulations are fair and no one could justly argue against them. This new proposal has been put forth by insane people. Let sanity prevail.

# 89:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Patricia Clore, Indiana

# 88:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Doug Simmer, Texas
Keep your guns at home. If you are that paranoid, stay there.

# 87:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Kristen Olafson, California
Guns have NO place in our parks!!

# 86:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, SallieMae Pauley, Virginia

# 85:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Jose A. Arce, New Jersey

# 84:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Dawn R, Colorado

# 83:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, Joanne Stein, Colorado
All I can say is why? Why would you even need to? Unnecessary and so dangerous!

# 82:

2:59 pm PST, Feb 13, John Hoffmann, Colorado
A loaded gun would only be used for security from animals. Any animal that is in the park is protected so only non-lethal protection is acceptable.

# 81:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, AJC Lenox, Missouri
There are good rules already allowing firearms into the parks, do open up a shooting range.

# 80:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Pat Neagle, California

# 79:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Paul Kisicki, Washington

# 78:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Elizabeth Keddy, California

# 77:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Anella Ralls, Texas

# 76:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Edward Jasiewicz, Pennsylvania

# 75:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Richard Golding, New York

# 74:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Amy L, California

# 73:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Daniel Heiter, Massachusetts

# 72:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Cari Hays, California
Costly in so many ways: safety, security, enforcement, animal loss,...

# 71:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, John Tritz, New Mexico

# 70:

2:58 pm PST, Feb 13, Maryjane Genco, California
The safety of visitors, wildlife and rangers is far more important than the right to bear arms in National Parks!!!!

# 69:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Melissa Cathcart, Minnesota

# 68:

4:03 pm PST, Feb 13, Aaron Renner, California

# 67:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Susan Boyd, Florida

# 66:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Nick Rudolph, Texas
There is no reason to be carrying a loaded gun in a state park.

# 65:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Mark Suazo, Tennessee

# 64:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Neil McMillan, California
Who comes up with these ideas, anyway?

# 63:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Kelly Reardon, Illinois

# 62:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Rick Lambert, Oregon

# 61:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Name not displayed, Pennsylvania
Let them have them. Then we can hire more rangers to go pick up all the dead bodies, both wildlife and humans!

# 60:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Laurel Temple, Oregon

# 59:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Name not displayed, Texas
There are already meaningful rules regarding firearms in National Parks. Let them stand.

# 58:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Miri Osborne, North Carolina

# 57:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Megan Flynn, New York

# 56:

2:57 pm PST, Feb 13, Karen McAbeer, California

# 55:

2:56 pm PST, Feb 13, Carol Teicher, Missouri
People and protected animals are in our national parks, and loaded guns do not fit in that picture. We don't need to be made afraid of accidental or intentional gunfire while visiting our parks!

# 54:

2:56 pm PST, Feb 13, Wanda Webster, Florida

# 53:

2:56 pm PST, Feb 13, Ryan Johnson, California

# 52:

2:56 pm PST, Feb 13, Clare Kennedy, California

# 51:

2:56 pm PST, Feb 13, Brittany D., Texas

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Don't Take Away Loaded Gun Restrictions In National Parks

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