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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
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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!

# 14,645:

7:52 pm PDT, Jun 1, Heather Gregory, South Carolina

# 14,644:

8:09 am PDT, May 30, Mary Ayres, Washington
Wild areas help us learn to be a part of the enviornment, not something outside the natural world. That will not happen if people can use a loaded weapon. I also worry that people will "accidentally" shoot wildlife and/or visitors.

# 14,643:

6:52 am PDT, May 30, Lisa Frazee, New Jersey
The national parks are no place for concealed weapons. A loaded gun is just an accident waiting to happen. A person mistaken for a bear? A child, teen, whomever gets their hands on it at an unobserved moment? Please, our parks should be a safe place to visit. What is the underlying reason a person feels a need to carry a concealed loaded weapon while communing with nature. I can't think of a good one.

# 14,642:

1:20 pm PDT, May 28, Erin Shelly, New York

# 14,641:

6:59 am PDT, May 26, Rebecca Avery-Quinn, Tennessee

# 14,640:

9:42 am PDT, May 25, Kayla Babb, Kentucky

# 14,639:

4:23 pm PDT, May 19, Susan Edelstein, North Carolina

# 14,638:

8:10 pm PDT, May 10, Elizabeth Even, California

# 14,637:

9:36 am PDT, May 9, Cecil Hickman, Iowa

# 14,636:

10:40 am PDT, May 8, Edwin Price, Montana

# 14,635:

10:09 am PDT, May 6, Anita Kofta, Wisconsin

# 14,634:

6:27 pm PDT, May 3, Laura Regalado, New Jersey

# 14,633:

7:37 pm PDT, May 2, Pawel Mizgalewicz, Maryland

# 14,632:

4:36 pm PDT, May 2, Karen Silva, Colorado

# 14,631:

4:11 am PDT, Apr 29, John Landau, New York

# 14,630:

12:19 pm PDT, Apr 27, April Buvel, Montana
I am an Interpretive park ranger. I am concerned with the inevitable problems associated with visitors being more heavily armed than the rangers in the parks. In the more remote locations where medical services are not easily accessible more liability issues are bound to arise in the event that shootings do occur. The park service would have to have more staff trained in handling weapons and more expertise in medical training within the park boundaries to ensure the safety of visitors.

# 14,629:

3:34 pm PDT, Apr 21, Carol Harris, Iowa

# 14,628:

11:38 pm PDT, Apr 19, Nancy Okita, Illinois

# 14,627:

9:06 pm PDT, Apr 15, Shawna Wagoner, Michigan

# 14,626:

5:26 am PDT, Apr 15, David Mozzoni, Rhode Island

# 14,625:

10:56 am PDT, Apr 13, Samantha Kinstle, Virginia

# 14,624:

11:35 am PDT, Apr 12, Ashley Galindo, Texas

# 14,623:

9:15 pm PDT, Apr 10, Name not displayed, Texas

# 14,622:

9:58 pm PDT, Apr 9, Jennifer Glick, Texas
Allowing loaded guns in our National Parks is dangerous to humans and wildlife. This is a very bad idea.

# 14,621:

9:55 am PDT, Apr 8, Name not displayed, California

# 14,620:

12:32 am PDT, Apr 8, Carole Ibata, Pennsylvania
There can be no reason why loaded weapons should be in our national parks. We go there for peace and to enjoy beautiful nature, not to shoot.

# 14,619:

5:07 pm PDT, Apr 6, Name not displayed, Wisconsin

# 14,618:

2:05 am PDT, Apr 6, Segue Fischlin, Washington

# 14,617:

10:54 pm PDT, Apr 5, Mike Weltman, Oregon

# 14,616:

11:36 am PDT, Apr 4, Mark Eichelman, Virginia

# 14,615:

8:46 pm PDT, Apr 2, Lisa Sturt, Georgia
Allowing guns would present a safety hazard to visitors and animals alike.

# 14,614:

1:38 pm PDT, Apr 2, Name not displayed, Iowa

# 14,613:

12:41 pm PDT, Apr 2, Katarzyna Sornat, California
Loaded guns do not belong in civilized society.

# 14,612:

9:50 am PDT, Apr 2, Kenneth Lapointe, Canada

# 14,611:

11:50 am PDT, Apr 1, Name not displayed, California
This is not right for the animals living in national parks and the people visiting there.

# 14,610:

8:35 am PDT, Mar 31, CINDY SHAFFER, West Virginia

# 14,609:

10:14 pm PDT, Mar 30, Christopher Devine, Illinois

# 14,608:

5:46 pm PDT, Mar 30, Name not displayed, Michigan

# 14,607:

2:01 pm PDT, Mar 30, Silky Wyld, Wisconsin

# 14,606:

10:52 pm PDT, Mar 28, Beverly Zahrobsky, Iowa

# 14,605:

10:36 am PDT, Mar 28, Name not displayed, New Hampshire

# 14,604:

3:23 am PDT, Mar 28, Name not displayed, California
There are already so few safe places for animals now. Please keep it safe for my children and grandchildren to appreciate!

# 14,603:

9:34 pm PDT, Mar 26, Chris Anas, California

# 14,602:

7:33 pm PDT, Mar 26, Rose Charley, Washington

# 14,601:

6:37 pm PDT, Mar 26, Anne Marie Voepel, Missouri

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Don't Take Away Loaded Gun Restrictions In National Parks

This petition has been closed.