But I don't see that it could do any harm, either. There's some guy organizing a petition to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne (who used to be Idaho's governor) asking the federal government to "institute an exception to 36 CFR 2.4 and 50 CFR 27.42 to allow law-abiding citizens to transport and carry firearms consistent with state laws" in national parks and other facilities of the Fish & Wildlife service that currently prohibit guns. (Go there to sign up.)
Now, notice that this isn't a request to abolish all weapons regulation in national parks. The proposal is to make the rules in the parks consistent with the surrounding state. If the surrounding state allows concealed carry with a permit, so would the national park. If the surrounding state allows open carry, so would the park. If the surrounding state doesn't allow carry of any sort, the national park's rules wouldn't change.
In case you are wondering: the reason for allowing carry in a national park isn't for hunting. In some national parks, there is a problem with violent criminals. Okay, Yellowstone isn't Watts. But there are disturbing incidents like the murders of Carole and Juli Sund, and Silvina Pelosso, and then some weeks later, Joie Ruth Armstrong, by an employee in the park named Cary Stayner.
Some other national parks do have dangerous wildlife. Yes, incidents where visitors get badly injured or killed by wildlife are very, very infrequent. But there is nothing wrong with being allowed to defend yourself, and something terribly wrong with guaranteeing that if a grizzly mistakes you for a Big Mac, you have no lawful way to prevent yourself from becoming lunch.
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