Monday, March 3, 2008

Gun's in Parks

Les Blumenthal of the (Tacoma) News Tribune reports that Representative Norm Dicks (D-Tac) is up to his usual tricks and generally weaselly and liberal ways in this article.

Dicks, in conjunction with Washington's Senators and his Senate counterpart, Diane Feinstein, have vowed to derail any effort to repeal the ban on loaded firearms in National Parks - making claims in a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne that:
  • “Permitting loaded firearms to be carried or used within our
    national parks or wildlife refuges would be a radical, unprecedented
    change that would likely upset the delicate balance that exists
    between wildlife and park visitors in these areas,” Dicks and
    Feinstein said in a letter to Kempthorne.

  • "More importantly, allowing loaded and accessible weapons in national
    parks would create a dangerous environment for millions of American families who annually visit ournational parks expecting a safe and enjoyable experience – not
    loaded firearms and stray bullets.”
Read the article for the full list of lies and fantasies, including the old "if we allow guns, it'll be the Wild West" allusion. Happily, this controversy has, at least, derailed the proposed Wildlife area north of Seattle temporarily.

The original logic of the Parks Firearms Ban was to limit opportunistic poaching, a concern that can be managed by vastly less intrusive means. Observably, there is no invisible magic wall surrounding the parks that prevents "bad persons" from entering and preying upon both two-legged and four-legged victims.

Maintaining another large "victim disarmament zone" is at best counterproductive, and at worst begging for trouble.

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