Poaching? Really? That's the best she could come up with?
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/28/ED5D14VH27.DTLAllowing loaded guns in national parks a reckless move
Dianne Feinstein
Monday, December 29, 2008
With its days numbered, the Bush administration has made an unnecessary and dangerous change to a 25-year-old regulation that bans concealed, loaded firearms in America's national parks and wildlife refuges.
This regulation, created by the Reagan administration, has done an outstanding job of making these special places among the safest in the nation. And it did so without imposing unreasonable restrictions on gun owners - it merely required that weapons be unloaded and kept in a place that's not readily accessible, such as a car trunk.
But this 11th-hour rule change - slipped in by a lame-duck administration late on a Friday with Congress out of session - will let people with concealed weapons permits bring loaded firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges.
This is an astonishingly reckless move, made in the absence of any public outcry in favor of changing this rule. In fact, the public consistently rates our national parks at the top of federal government programs that work well. There is no reason to fix a system that Americans overwhelmingly tell us is not broken.
Simply put, this is the Bush administration's parting gift to the gun lobby - at the expense of the health and safety of the public, park rangers and wildlife.
Here's why it's a bad move:
Allowing loaded and accessible weapons in our national parks will create a dangerous environment for the millions of Americans and tourists from around the world who visit our national parks every year. These park visitors expect a safe and enjoyable experience - not loaded guns and stray bullets.
Poaching will increase in our national parks, upsetting the delicate balance between park visitors and wildlife.
It will create a confusing patchwork of regulation that will be impossible to enforce. That's because some parks, like Death Valley National Park, cross state lines. California prohibits concealed weapons in its state parks. Nevada does not. Which state's law will apply at Death Valley?
The new regulation itself is vague and confusing because it permits state law on gun possession to determine whether guns are allowed in national parks. But many states - including California - generally allow the carrying of concealed weapons with a permit, but prohibit their possession in state parks. The new regulation isn't clear on which state law applies.
The regulation that the Bush administration repealed goes back more than 100 years in some national parks, including Yellowstone. It was applied across the board in 1983, and it's been critical in giving park visitors a real sense of safety.
This sense is supported by the facts. In fact, the odds of becoming a victim of violent crime in our national parks are 1 in more than 708,000, according to the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees.
That's less than the odds of being struck by lightning.
The people who know our parks best oppose this rule change. They include the retired Park Service employees group; the National Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police; the National Parks Conservation Association; the Association of National Park Rangers; and the American Hunters and Shooters Association.
These great parks are national treasures, and they should be respected as such.
I agree with what the writer Wallace Stegner said in 1983: "National parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
If there is any good news, it is this: President-elect Barack Obama will take office on Jan. 20. I hope he moves quickly to reverse this monumentally reckless move by his predecessor.
Dianne Feinstein represents California in the U.S. Senate.
