47 U.S. Senators have signed a letter asking Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to lift the restrictions on guns in National Parks and wildlife refuges. The guy who is head of the National Parks Service’s regulations, Jerry Case, doesn’t seem to agree with the idea of the restrictions being lifted.
The current regulations, adopted in 1983 under then-Interior Secretary James Watt, say visitors to national parks must render their weapons inaccessible. Guns do not have to be disassembled, but they must be put somewhere that is not easily reached, such as in a car trunk, said Jerry Case, the National Park Service’s chief of regulations and special park uses.
The rules were developed to ensure public safety and provide maximum protection for wildlife, Case said, noting that before the rules were adopted, “people would go out and shoot wildlife in national parks.” Snakes, bears, wolves and coyotes were among animals shot by park visitors.
National parks have a lower crime rate than many similarly sized communities, Case said, adding that many national parks have large campsites. “If you have people start plinking around with weapons, then you have accidents,” he said.
“Plinking around with weapons”? What exactly does that mean? One dictionary definition says to casually shoot at random targets. Is this what Case is referring to? Is this a problem in National Parks? Or anywhere?
There’s also another interesting point here. Case says the crime rate in National Parks is lower than in some cities and towns of similar size, referring to when the parks are full of people. Is he seriously comparing a crime rate inside a National Park with a town? Is he attributing that lower crime rate because of the restrictions on guns?
The last time I checked hoods, thugs and crooks don’t hang out in Yellowstone, Glacier, Acadia or Ocala. They are the ones that commit the crimes, right?
Tom Remington
