Removal of Prohibition on Firearms in National Parks

On December 14th, 2007, 47 Senators sent a letter to Secretary Dirk Kempthorne at the Department of Interior asking them to update some of the rules governing National Parks and Game and Fish land. Currently, it’s illegal to carry a firearm on your person in these areas (such as Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone).

My friend Ray has established a petition in support of the letter from the US Senate to be delivered to Dirk Kempthorne (Secretary of the DOI). Please sign the petition. Please pass it on to whatever other sites/organizations you can find. This is a critical time, since the letter from the Senate was just recently delivered.

Much of the refusal on the part of the National Park Service is based on the image of National Parks being “safe”. Ray has submitted several FOIA requests for details on crime in our National Parks, but the NPS is the only organization of its kind that does not track such statistics in detail. In part, I suspect, to keep their “safe” image intact. A kind soul from within the NPS sent me some preliminary data on crime in National Parks, and more will be forthcoming.

How safe are they? In 2006 there were 11 murders, 35 rapes, 61 robberies, 16 kidnappings, and 281 aggravated assaults in our National Parks.

In addition, here’s a few facts about National Parks that may be of interest:

National Park Service Rangers hold the most dangerous federal law enforcement job in the nation. They are 12 times more likely to be victims of assault or murder than an FBI Agent.
There is 1 Park Service Ranger for every 100,000 visitors. That’s less law enforcement representation than any city in the US.
Meth Labs and pot farms are being actively utilized in National Parks as a result of the low levels of enforcement.

The myth of “safe” National Parks can now be officially called “busted.” You’ll notice I left aggressive wildlife out of this, and I leave it to the reader to do their own research and risk assessment there.

The petition would require the NPS to follow state laws involving the carry and Conceal Carry of firearms in National Parks.

Please sign the petition and pass this information along!

The petition is found at:
Removal of prohibition on firearms on National Park and Fish and Wildlife Federal lands.

The original letter sent to Kempthorne by the 47 members of the Senate is at:
http://www.nraila.org/Media/PDFs/kempthorne_ltr.pdf