One year ago today, on February 22, 2010, the National Park Service lifted the ban on carrying concealed weapons in the parks for those who have permits to do so.
The change came about when the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act was signed into law on May 22, 2009. The bill contained a line item added at the last moment by a Republican senator, specifically allowing people with concealed carry permits to carry their guns into national parks in the states covered by their permits.
At the time, critics predicted that the new rule would frighten families away from the parks, and that the number of animals shot by gun owners in the parks would increase exponentially.
So what actually happened?
Not much at all, noted David Barna, spokesperson for the National Park Service, in an email. There was “really almost no impact,” he wrote.
One specific incident made national news last year on May 28, when a pair of hikers in Alaska’s Denali National Park drew a .45-caliber pistol and fired on a grizzly bear charging toward them from out of a thicket. The bear was wounded and later died, and after an investigation, park officials ruled that the shooting was a legitimate act of self-defense.
“The only other incident that I’m aware of is a couple of boys target shooting with a .22 caliber rifle on the side of a road along the Blue Ridge Parkway,” Barna said. “A ranger stopped and asked them to leave, and they did.”
There’s also no evidence to suggest that families avoided the parks in the seasons following the new gun rule. Visitation to national parks including Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain—and 183 other National Park Service properties—all increased in 2010.
On some levels, lifting this ban has turned out to be a positive scenario for many parties. President Obama had the opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to Second Amendment rights, gun owners can maintain their sense of personal safety and enter national parks without stowing their weapons in the trunks of their cars, and tourists can visit the parks with no disruption in their experience or enjoyment. Most important, gun owners have had the opportunity to demonstrate their status as law-abiding citizens who carry weapons responsibly.
If the policy continues to be free of major incidents, we may wonder one day what all the vitriol was about.
Comments
Great article! Lots of good information for me to use in this. Thanks!
Thank you, Ms. Minetor. Interesting.
We already know what the vitriol was all about ... it was about purposeful deception, and about ignorance.
Those loudest against carry in Parks were the gun control advocates. They already know that carry has been successful and prevalent ... since the 1980s, when states began passing carry laws, they have been predicting dire consequences and "blood in the streets." In 25 years, those predictions haven't come to pass. But vitriol is all they have left, and even though discredited, they still make the claim. That's purposeful deception.
Some people are just ignorant about the issue. They don't know that 49 states have provisions for lawful defensive carry ... so when they hear about it (eg. National Parks), they freak out. If they knew about the success and prevalence of carry these past 25 years, they would no longer be ignorant.
Ms. Minetor's article would have been perfect had she but referenced the name of the Republican Senator whose courage and foresight empowered liberty minded Americans to carry their privately-owned tools of self-defense within our National Park boundaries without fear of federally mandated reprisals.
Actually, the 2nd Amendment already enumerates the unalienable right to defend oneself against tyranny, whether imposed by government or societal predator. Absent attacks on liberty through executive decree, judicial fiat, and legislative overreach, further amplification of that fundamental right would be unnecessary.
It was Coburn of OK, but in reality, it was the bipartisan voting that got it passed, not just one Senator.
Now we need to get the rules changes for US Army Corps Of Engineer lands. Many Texas State Parks are on land leased from USACE. While it is legal per state law to carry in a Texas state park, it is illegal per federal law if the land is owned by USACE.
As long as the person is complying with the laws of the state in which the National Park is located, open carry and/or concealed carry are allowed. In Virginia, it's open carry WITHOUT a permit or concealed carry with a permit.
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