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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

14,632
signatures!

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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!

# 14,550:

8:28 am PDT, Mar 13, Yvonne Williams, New York

# 14,549:

8:02 am PDT, Mar 13, Thomas Rottmayer, Ohio

# 14,548:

3:40 am PDT, Mar 13, Lori Bradford, Mississippi

# 14,547:

10:01 pm PDT, Mar 12, Cindy Hockstad, Michigan
Our National Parks are for people to enjoy, many families visit each year, I think allowing people to carry guns within the parks, would lessen the prospect of a family enjoying the park. I know I would not take my children or myself, where there would be loaded guns, that is really asking for trouble. Parks are to be enjoyed and not some place to do target practice or killing of any kind.

# 14,546:

9:57 pm PDT, Mar 12, Yvette Perez, New York

# 14,545:

7:55 pm PDT, Mar 12, James Thomas, California

# 14,544:

7:34 pm PDT, Mar 12, Binell Martino, New Jersey

# 14,543:

6:41 pm PDT, Mar 12, Maria Cardenas, California

# 14,542:

2:32 pm PDT, Mar 12, Brittany PG, Florida

# 14,541:

2:09 pm PDT, Mar 12, John Buller, California
Has the park system become so dangerous as to require carrying an already loaded gun? If so, CLEAN IT UP with appropriate law enforcement! Coburn wants vigilantism.... If that`s appropriate, legalize it.... We don`t need another war zone! If someone is afraid of wild animals: go to the zoo, and stay out of their territory out in the wild where they by our own laws can defend themselves.

# 14,540:

1:06 pm PDT, Mar 12, Sharon Grebe, Texas

# 14,539:

4:30 am PDT, Mar 12, Laura Jaegel_Aulito, Pennsylvania

# 14,538:

11:39 pm PDT, Mar 11, Shannon Sultan, Wisconsin

# 14,537:

11:20 pm PDT, Mar 11, Karen Blasche, Oregon

# 14,536:

8:44 pm PDT, Mar 11, Name not displayed, Washington
Our parks should continue to be a natural refuge to the public. Please keep personal guns out of them!

# 14,535:

7:47 pm PDT, Mar 11, Leo House, Missouri

# 14,534:

7:44 pm PDT, Mar 11, Deborah Sharpe, California

# 14,533:

4:08 pm PDT, Mar 11, Art Deco, Maine

# 14,532:

6:14 pm PDT, Mar 10, Mark, AJ, Sydne Sennett, Arizona

# 14,531:

2:58 pm PDT, Mar 10, Kelsey Cormier, Massachusetts

# 14,530:

9:08 am PDT, Mar 10, Name not displayed, South Dakota

# 14,529:

6:23 am PDT, Mar 10, Richard Grooms, Alabama

# 14,528:

5:30 am PDT, Mar 10, Animal Lover Claudia P, Netherlands

# 14,527:

5:24 am PDT, Mar 10, Lorraine Petro, Connecticut

# 14,526:

3:14 am PDT, Mar 10, Jodi Souders, California

# 14,525:

2:40 am PDT, Mar 10, Jamie Richards, Massachusetts

# 14,524:

11:02 pm PDT, Mar 9, Diane Damico, California
They've got to be kidding!

# 14,523:

10:33 pm PDT, Mar 9, Carl O, Indiana
My signature is a NO to this petition. If a criminal wants to murder people in a national park, it would be extremely easy to bring in a rifle or loaded handgun and do so, just like in schools, malls, and other gun-free zones that have been favored psycho targets for the last 10 years. But do mass shootings like these ever happen in National Parks? Of course not! On the other hand, there are several reports every year of women and young children being attacked by pumas, alligators, poisonous snakes, and other vicious animals. Allowing concealed carry would save lives. Personally, it would make me feel much safer while hiking if I could carry a carbine in my backpack in emergency situations. I'm not adequately trained or built to take on a grizzly with a camping knife.

# 14,522:

4:29 pm PDT, Mar 9, Barbara Singer, Illinois

# 14,521:

2:25 pm PDT, Mar 9, Lynne Wendlandt, Texas

# 14,520:

12:49 pm PDT, Mar 9, Jennifer Weich, Michigan

# 14,519:

11:22 am PDT, Mar 9, Diana Satin, Massachusetts

# 14,518:

6:36 am PDT, Mar 9, Dorothy Freel, Florida

# 14,517:

8:54 pm PST, Mar 8, Name not displayed, Pennsylvania

# 14,516:

5:53 pm PST, Mar 8, Name not displayed, Ohio

# 14,515:

4:49 pm PST, Mar 8, Jaclyn Mendana, Florida

# 14,514:

2:08 pm PST, Mar 8, Eleonore Lee, Texas

# 14,513:

1:08 pm PST, Mar 8, Chris Catalano, New York

# 14,512:

8:27 am PST, Mar 8, Rhea Damon, California
No,no,no to guns in National Parks. This is for safefy of animals and humans, as well.

# 14,511:

5:35 am PST, Mar 8, Nancy Klein, Virginia

# 14,510:

8:23 pm PST, Mar 7, Terri Bemiller, Ohio

# 14,509:

7:27 pm PST, Mar 7, Name not displayed, California

# 14,508:

6:29 pm PST, Mar 7, Charles Wilmoth, California

# 14,507:

5:47 pm PST, Mar 7, Jennifer Glover, Florida

# 14,506:

3:34 pm PST, Mar 7, Angela Quinn, Canada

# 14,505:

2:58 pm PST, Mar 7, Rika Toll, New Mexico

# 14,504:

11:43 am PST, Mar 7, JULIE WILCZAK, New York

# 14,503:

10:09 am PST, Mar 7, Jerry Cheney, New Mexico

# 14,502:

7:12 am PST, Mar 7, Name not displayed, New York
I believe I'm stating the obvious when I say that this is irresponsible, dangerous, an invitation to (inevitable) tragedy, and utterly stupid.

# 14,501:

7:50 pm PST, Mar 6, Jolyn Eggart, Montana
This is such a bad idea on so many levels. Do not let the NRA or other special interest groups dictate this policy.

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Don't Take Away Loaded Gun Restrictions In National Parks

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