Quote:Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Good news!

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill today that included an amendment to repeal the gun ban on National Park Service (NPS) land and wildlife refuges.

The amendment, sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and attached to a credit card industry reform bill, passed the House overwhelmingly by a vote of 279-147.

For decades, law-abiding citizens have been prohibited from exercising their Second Amendment rights on NPS land and wildlife refuges, even if the state in which the land is located allows carrying firearms.

With some limited exceptions for hunting, the only way to legally possess a firearm anywhere in a national park is by having it unloaded and inaccessible, such as locked up in an automobile trunk. A Bush administration regulation partially reversed the ban, but that action was singlehandedly negated recently by an activist judge in Washington, D.C. The Department of Interior decided not to appeal that ruling.

Senator Coburn believes, like you do, that Americans should not be forced to sacrifice their Second Amendment rights when entering NPS land and wildlife refuges.

Quote: Interior Spokeswoman’s Statement on New Firearms Law for Parks and RefugesProvision will take effect in nine months
WASHINGTON, D.C. – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Department of the Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff issued the following statement regarding the enactment of a new firearms law for national parks and wildlife refuges that will take effect in nine months:
“The Department of the Interior will follow Congress’s directive and implement the new firearms law, which states that its provisions will take effect nine months from today. For the time being, the current Reagan Administration regulations governing possession of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges remain in place. Under the current regulation, firearms are generally prohibited, but citizens may transport unloaded and dismantled or cased firearms and carry firearms while participating in approved hunting programs and under certain other circumstances. “As Interior prepares to implement the new law, the Department will work to understand and interpret its implications for our national parks and wildlife refuges, with public safety and the safety of our employees as our foremost consideration. Because possession of loaded weapons on national parks and wildlife refuges will be governed by varying state firearms laws once the new law is implemented, the Department will provide guidance to the more than 24,000 professionals who manage our parks and refuges and the more than 310 million people who visit our parks and refuges each year.”