“Firearms in Parks” Rule Open for Public Comment
July 31, 2008—Earlier this summer, at the urging of a majority of each house of Congress, the Department of the Interior (DOI) proposed allowing possession of loaded, concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges if the particular state allows them in its park and wildlife-refuge areas. This is a departure from a 25-year-old regulation that effectively bans the carrying of loaded firearms on national-park lands.
About 40 percent of the Appalachian Trail crosses national-park lands, and the whole footpath is a national scenic trail primarily administered by the DOI National Park Service.
The department recently extended to August 8 the deadline for receiving comments on the rules changes, which the Appalachian Trail Conservancy has opposed strongly.
ATC supports the existing rules, which allow for the transport of unloaded and safely stowed firearms through units of the national park system, believing that such restrictions help to ensure the protection of wildlife and the safety of park and refuge visitors, as well as the relatively few agency law-enforcement officers who must oversee those areas. The social culture of A.T. hiking and overnight camping also would be put at unnecessary risk under a more permissive policy, ATC told the department. Many retired parks officials feel the same way; see opinions from the Association of National Park Rangers and the National Parks Conservation Association.
For an even longer period of time, for a number of practical reasons, ATC has advised hikers against carrying firearms even on those sections of the Trail on which possession is legal (assuming the hiker has all the required state and local permits and follows other relevant laws).
At the same time, ATC recognizes the broad diversity of opinion within its membership and among A.T. hikers generally on the need for and/or desirability of carrying firearms while enjoying the Trail. Believing that the department needs to hear those real feelings and real experiences of real users of the national-park lands at stake, in addition to groups that have a more political or philosophical interest in this issue, ATC encourages members to become familiar with the proposal and add their opinions to what is certain to be a large volume of comments.
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