"[P]eople acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." - FDR

News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Picnic Basket? Check. Bug Spray? Check. Ammo? Check.

Energy and natural resources are issues critically important to America's future. Sound energy and resource policy can make our environment cleaner, spur economic growth, and improve national security.

With that in mind, it's perplexing that today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee wasted time and taxpayer money debated and approved a bill to allow loaded guns in national parks.

The bill would end the 25-year-old ban on carrying loaded guns in national parks. (If state law banned gun possession in parks, the state policy would supersede the new law and remain in effect.) The bill passed the committee in an 18-5, according to CQPolitics.com.

The bill would accomplish the same goal as a Bush administration rule Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed in April. Reg•Watch thinks the Interior rule will be among the many rules the Bush administration pushes through in its final months in order to secure its ideological legacy.

Both the bill and the proposed rule are remarkably unnecessary. An April Associated Press article explains:

There is no data to suggest that the public would be served by allowing visitors to parks to possess concealed handguns, [Coalition of National Park Service Retirees Chairman Bill] Wade and other critics said. They cited statistics showing that national parks are among the safest places in the country. The probability of becoming a victim of a violent crime in a national park is 1 in more than 708,000 — less likely than being struck by lightning, the groups said.

On the other hand, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), unmoved by fact, said, "The purpose of this bill is to protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks," according to CQPolitics.com.

However, since Congress almost never actually passes legislation, the Interior regulation is still the best bet for gun rights advocates hoping to arm national parks. Stay tuned to Reg•Watch for updates.