New law. Guns ok in National Parks

Hikers in the Grand Canyon, visitors to Old Faithful and anyone else sleeping at hundreds of national park campsites across the country might now be surrounded by other tourists carrying shotguns or rifles.

Get a new view of the national treasure with a helicopter tour.

More PhotosThanks to a new law that took effect today, it is now legal to carry loaded guns into our national parks.

The change in federal law basically means that national park visitors must obey the federal, state, and local gun laws appropriate to the parks they are visiting. It's a sharp change to previous laws that severely restricted guns in the national parks, generally requiring them to be locked or stored.

Supporters say the law brings uniformity to the laws governing gun use on federal lands, but some gun-control advocates fear it could lead to increased violence, or at the very least upset the parks' tranquility.

Bill Wade, who heads the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said that the law brings "a very unfortunate and sad situation" to the parks.

makes sense to me......there aint nobody there to protect, so serve yourself.

I called this "even the playing field" since the bad guys are not the only ones that carrying guns! 

Hi Gunny's:

       It's a good thing if, you run into the following Yogi Bear!


http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/giantbear.htm

My only concern are the yahoos who bring guns out there and don't have the right attitude or mind set......if you know what I mean

I used to camp at Loon Lake every year and could hear world class idiots firing their guns late at night from the more remote campsites...and I'm pretty sure they were not protecting themselves from the bears


...just my 2 cents

just stupid...

visitors to Old Faithful and anyone else sleeping at hundreds of national park campsites across the country might now be surrounded by other tourists carrying shotguns or rifles.

I'm sure that's exactly what will happen.

My only concern are the yahoos who bring guns out there and don't have the right attitude or mind set......if you know what I mean

I used to camp at Loon Lake every year and could hear world class idiots firing their guns late at night from the more remote campsites...and I'm pretty sure they were not protecting themselves from the bears


...just my 2 cents

I would not worry as the law is only aimed at people with concealed weapons permits.  these people play by the rules and are not assholes.

 this is not a law were you can walk through the GGNRA here in San Francisco carrying a shotgun and a .44 magnum on your belt.

I would not worry as the law is only aimed at people with concealed weapons permits. 


these people play by the rules and are not assholes.


this is not a law were you can walk through the GGNRA here in San Francisco carrying a shotgun and a .44 magnum on your belt.

True,

Not so sure about that,

True

I would not worry as the law is only aimed at people with concealed weapons permits. 


these people play by the rules and are not assholes.


this is not a law were you can walk through the GGNRA here in San Francisco carrying a shotgun and a .44 magnum on your belt.

True,

Not so sure about that,

True

OK, for point number two, let me rephrase:
these people generally play by the rules and in most cases are not asshats.

OK, I get your point, the whole thing doesn't bother me in the least but the news sure has made a big deal of it.

As long as gun owners are responsible with there firearms it shouldn't be A problem. I grew up hunting with my uncles and got accustomed to seeing people with riffles. You respect them as well as getting respected. As far as the yahoos shooting off guns at night there is one in every bunch! Its gonna happen. I like the idea...

The new law applies to only those who have legally applied for and been approved for a CCW or concealed carry weapons permit. The last time I checked, the permits were near impossible to get, require an extensive background check, and have to be renewed yearly at a cost of around $200.00. The law only applies to National Parks and you can bet they will be diligent about checking these permits just like the DFG checks our permits. People with these permits have already been able to access State Parks and carry their sidearms legally. Other than that if a person does not have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, they can still carry a weapon in plain sight, but it cannot be loaded or have the ammo readily available-go figure. In wilderness areas or non-national parks you can carry a loaded weapon and in plain site or concealed. With increasing budget cuts at the federal, state, local levels, I would say you're pretty much on your own and shouldn't count on dialing 911 for help. In most cases you would do well to take steps to protect yourself, just as long as you have the training and common sense to go along with your S&W; as the saying goes-it's better to be judged by twelve than carried by six- you get the picture. 
Just to add my two cents here, most of the media is extremely left and anti-gun, this is why they are making a big deal about it. I support the 2nd amendment and personally believe that CCW permits should be more readily available to law abiding citizens. My dad moved to Oregon, doesn't seem to be a problem getting one there, in fact every state that has enacted a CCW program has seen a significant reduction in major crimes. Mike

http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/concarry.pdf (literature review)

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_rtcstates.html

http://lawreview.stanford.edu/content/vol55/4/Ayres_Donohue_comment.pdf

http://lawreview.stanford.edu/content/vol55/4/Plassmann_Whitley.pdf

visitors to Old Faithful and anyone else sleeping at hundreds of national park campsites across the country might now be surrounded by other tourists carrying shotguns or rifles.

I'm sure that's exactly what will happen.

I'll tell you that there are already plenty of people in the park with guns, but this law decriminalizes their actions. I think this is a good change that makes it easier for law abiding citizens to remain legal.

About 10 years ago I finished my class 2 LEO training for the National Park Service and the fact of citizens having guns in the park was discussed almost casually. The full time LEOs constantly run into people who are law abiding gun owners who simply didn't realize that when they crossed into the National Park that the state laws governing their firearms no longer apply. And the turds that are going to commit a crime with their guns aren't worried about possession laws to begin with.