Feds may ease park gun ban

WASHINGTON – In a victory for gun rights advocates, the federal government is preparing to relax a decades-old ban on loaded firearms in national parks.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Friday his department would suggest new regulations by the end of April that could bring federal rules into line with state laws concerning guns in parks and public lands. His announcement came in a letter to 51 senators who have written to him about the issue. A near majority of the Senate, including Democrats and Republicans from Western states, has backed a drive to repeal the ban, which has been in place in some parks for 100 years.

The proposed rule change might let visitors carry loaded weapons into national parks in states with few gun restrictions, such as Montana.

Gun rights advocates, notably the National Rifle Association, have said the ban infringes on their Second Amendment right to bear arms and their ability to defend themselves from predators, human and animal.

“If you’re hiking in the backcountry and there is a problem with a criminal or an aggressive animal, there’s no 911 box where you can call police and have a 60-second response time,” said Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. “Here in Montana, we are very used to being able to provide for our own personal protection.”

Kempthorne’s decision to review the ban was hailed by the NRA. “This is an important step in the right direction,” said the organization’s chief lobbyist, Chris W. Cox.

On the other hand, the National Parks Conservation Association called Kempthorne’s action “alarming.” Tom Kiernan, the group’s president, said a loosening of the ban would be “a blow to the national parks and the 300 million visitors who enjoy them every year.”

His view is echoed by gun-control advocates and some rangers who say permitting firearms would be dangerous for visitors and wildlife and alter the national park experience.

“Parks have long been sanctuaries for both animals and people,” said Butch Farabee, a former acting superintendent at Montana’s Glacier National Park who is retired. “There need to be places in this country where people can feel secure without guns and know that the guy in the campground across the way does not have one.”

The federal government would not cede authority over firearms in national parks to the states, said Interior Department spokesman Chris Paolino, but would like to reflect the policies of host states. In drafting proposed new rules, Paolino said, the department also would take into consideration the ban on firearms in federal buildings.

“It’s important to note this is the beginning of the process,” Paolino added.

Weapons originally were prohibited in national parks to prevent “opportunistic poaching” of wildlife, said Frank Buono, a former assistant superintendent of California’s Joshua Tree National Park.

A 1908 Yellowstone National Park regulation, for example, required that visitors “having firearms, traps, nets, seines or explosives” surrender them at the entrance unless they received written permission from the park superintendent.

A similar policy was in effect at most parks for decades. Then the Reagan administration in 1983 required that visitors unload and store their firearms before entering most national parks.

Supporters of the repeal effort note that state gun laws currently apply to federal land managed by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and they see no reason why that should not be the case in national parks and wildlife refuges.

So far, half the Senate seems to agree. Nine Democrats and 41 Republicans have signed letters to Kempthorne calling on him to lift the gun ban. “We do not believe that allowing law-abiding citizens to transport and carry firearms – rather than forcing them to disassemble or store them in their trunks – will increase the chances that they will be tempted to violate prohibitions on discharge,” one group of senators wrote.

Advocates believe it is, foremost, an issue of ending an unconstitutional infringement on their right to bear arms. But they also contend that park visitors are “increasingly vulnerable” to crime.

“While park rangers now use bullet-proof vests and automatic weapons to enforce the law, regular Americans in states where conceal-and-carry law exists are denied the opportunity for self-defense,” Coburn said in “talking points” distributed by his office.

The National Park Service says there were 116,588 reported offenses in national parks in 2006, the most recent year data are available, including 11 killings, 35 rapes or attempted rapes, 61 robberies, 16 kidnappings and 261 aggravated assaults.

Supporters also believe that gun owners should be able to protect themselves against dangerous animals, dismissing arguments that firearms would ruin the park experience.

Officials at Glacier – which recorded 10 deaths from grizzly bear attacks between 1967 and 1998 – said the last attack was in 2005, when a bear mauled two hikers. One of the victims, Johan Otter, of Escondido, Calif., said the idea that a gun could have stopped the 400-pound bear that charged him is naive. “We only had, like, half a second between seeing the bear and the impact,” Otter said.

Organizations that represent current and retired park workers oppose a repeal, saying it not only would endanger visitors, rangers and wildlife but would change the character of the parks.

Bill Wade, executive council chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said, “How many of you would want to go out there if you knew that people were running up and down the Appalachian Trail with guns?”