In 2009, President Barack Obama signed a law that ended the National Park Service’s ban on guns in parks, monuments, historic parks and every other kind of NPS property. Obama, of course, didn’t want to do it, but because Republicans managed to get national park carry inserted into a “must-pass” bill, Obama was left with little choice but to sign on the line.
This was, of course, a big victory for gun rights. Even if you aren’t visiting a national park, it’s entirely possible to drive through one on the way to somewhere else. For visitors, being able to protect themselves from everything from smugglers and ransom gangs in border parks to drug grow operations elsewhere meant a lot more peace of mind for the family.
Sadly, visitors still face a bit of a minefield. While you can lawfully carry in a national park according to the laws of the state the park is in, “federal facilities” within the parks are still off limits. This basically means any building in which NPS personnel work, so the visitor center, many bathrooms and showers, and even some hotels are off limits. Worse, the National Park Service has stretched the reasonable definition of “building” to include natural structures like the caves at Carlsbad Caverns.
Even worse, the NPS is still going to go after you if you have any reason to use the firearm. According to the NPS website:
Unless authorized, the use or discharge of a firearm within a park area is prohibited. 36 CFR 2.4(b) and 13.30(c). In parks where hunting is specifically mandated or authorized by federal statute, firearms may be used to hunt in accordance with NPS regulations and state laws. 36 CFR 2.2.
Visitors should not consider firearms as protection from wildlife.
So, expect the NPS to jerk you around in court and try to take your freedom away if you need to shoot at animals, whether on two or four legs.
Blatantly Unconstitutional
The good news is that after the 2022 NYSRPA v Bruen decision, the days of these remaining unconstitutional laws and policies are numbered. There’s really no widespread historic example of gun bans on public property from the time of constitutional ratification until the 14th Amendment was adopted. So, there’s no real way to say that visitor centers and caves are a place where guns can be banned. There may be some way to justify banning carry in the actual offices of the Park Service but bans on publicly accessible areas really can’t be justified.
As for the use of firearms in self-defense, parks are likely going to need to defer to state laws on use of force. Things like the reasonable person standard, necessity, and whether one instigated an attack need to come into play instead of a blanket policy that bans all firing of guns, no matter how compelling one’s need for that may be.
But, to make these things happen, the NPS will need to be taken to court. That, of course, is going to require money. So, on top of asking gun rights organizations to take this on, we must also chip in a few bucks to cover the costs. Personally, I’d recommend sending FPC a few bucks, and not only because I’m working with them on another case. But, if you have another organization you think might take it on, be sure to pitch in there, too!
Better to be judged by twelve than eaten by a bear / lion / …
Clarence Thomas missed oral arguments today. He didn’t participate remotely so this is likely serious. If he is replaced by FJB we are screwed as far as any peaceful resolution to the impending cataclysm of civil unrest coming down the timeline.
Bruen was only good enough if the next steps happened before we lost a sane constitutionalist majority. Too little too late…
“Clarence Thomas missed oral arguments today. He didn’t participate remotely so this is likely serious.”
Sending prayers right now… 🙁
Pray for St. Clarence. No explanation yet.
… kidnapping comes to mind.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it – Ginsberg was often absent from cases, but showed up to vote lockstep with the rest of the pirates.
The left is just nuts.
No, they are evil personified… 🙁
Their views are so twisted by Progressive/Woke ideology they wouldn’t be able to recognize reality if it was right in front of them.
Cognitive dissonance at its finest.
If a Progressive tells you the sky is blue, break out a swatch book and check.
“But, to make these things happen, the NPS will need to be taken to court. That, of course, is going to require money.”
Cough it up, people…
I am going to join Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation in the next two weeks, and maybe even Gun Owners of America for good measure.
After I join them, I will likely ask them to start lawsuits in my Federal Appeals Circuit: other Appeals Circuits (including three-judge panels and even En Banc I believe) have already struck down identical laws which are unchallenged in my state. This is what we call “low hanging fruit” that is proverbially ripe for the picking. (All they would have to do in my Federal Appeals Circuit is literally cut-and-paste the filings that prevailed in the other Circuit/s.)
“because Republicans managed to get national park carry inserted into a “must-pass” bill“
Fake news, the CARD act of 2009 was a bill designed to protect consumers from predatory lenders, and this consumer protection legislation was opposed by the Republicans.
No way around it, the democratically controlled Congress passed the bill with the amendment opening up millions of acres to the lawful carrying of firearms by Americans, and the Obama/Biden Administration signed this act into law.
“This was, of course, a big victory for gun rights“
Yep, thanks Obama and Biden!
So, we can count on biden ironing out the rough spots in the bill? Right?
Honestly, how do you live with yourself?
“So, we can count on biden ironing out the rough spots in the bill? Right?“
Trump and the Republicans had four years to “iron out the rough spots in the bill”, why didn’t ‘The Chosen One’ take care of it?
In fact, George W. Bush and the Republicans had eight years to fix the problem, he didn’t do shit.
In 2009, the very first year of the Obama/Biden administration they took action to remove restrictions on Americans carrying firearms on millions of acres of taxpayer owned land, and yet you still complain about the Republicans inaction.
In other words. Deflection.
When I was a kid I was perplexed. How could anybody join a .org like the SS? After dealing with the likes of you and dacian for years I understand it better.
Your kind lives in a fantasy. No wonder there’s always an abundance of recruits for the next big death cult.
MajorMistake,
It was a “must pass” bill for the Lyin’ Hawaiian, and you know it, you lying sh*tweasel. The list of OBVIOUS issues with that execrable piece of legislation are too long to list, but . . . it was “must pass” for Barry Soetoro. So the Republicans managed to gift him with the “allowed to carry in National Parks” provision. And the sleazeball did exactly what they KNEW he would, and signed it. So now idiots like YOU can dishonestly claim that the Lyin’ Hawaiian “authorized carry” in National Parks (he signed a frickin’ bill, MORON, he could have just as easily vetoed it over that “unacceptable” provision . . . but he didn’t, did he?).
Your outright LIES in defense of your bankrupt Leftist/fascist philosophy grow more desperate and threadbare by the day. November is going to be a hoot; I’m stocking up on popcorn. Question, MajorLiar: if the “right to vote” and the “right to keep and bear arms” are both EQUALLY rights (and they are), why shouldn’t the same requirements for exercising those rights be applied? I’d be TOTES OK with showing ID, doing a background check, etc. for buying a gun were also applied to voting. I’ll show my ID, do a background check, whatever, for both . . . as long as everyone else has to, too. Does that work for you, MajorIdiot??? I’ll write up a petition, and if you’ll sign it, I’ll be all over getting it circulated.
Let’s see you put your money (of which you have none) where your lying mouth is, you excresence on the face of humanity.
“It was a “must pass” bill for the Lyin’ Hawaiian, and you know it, you lying sh*tweasel“
Please justify your claim, exactly how was it ‘must pass’ legislation for the Democrats?
The burden of proof is upon the one making the claim, show your work.
Answer the question minor. ID and background check for voting and guns what say you? Now twist and weasel your way out of answering as usual
Well, MajorLiar, Tired of the bs has already pretty much put paid to that lame-@$$ excuse for an “argument”, but I’ll add my $0.02 (or, in Bidenomics, $0.002) – name the sponsor of the bill in question, and what OTHER issues the bill supposedly “dealt with”. Or are you afraid to own your lies???
IT WAS “must pass” legislation for the Leftist/fascist/Dimocrat Party, and you are simply shucking and jiving to try to avoid dealing with reality. You, yourself, have used that argument (“this was ‘must pass’ legislation for the Republicans”) before, you lying turd-in-a-punchbowl, so don’t try to get “cute” now.
You know EXACTLY what I am talking about, which is exactly why you are doing your Leftist/fascist soft-shoe to try to avoid it. Obama, and Harry Reid (may his diseased soul rest where it deserves), Nancy Pelosi, and a plethora of other Dimocrat/socialists had gone all out for it. Name the Republicans in the House who voted for that abomination. Oh, I guess you can’t, can you??
Y U ALWAYS B LYIN’???????
Having gunms in parks is okay, I just think .giv should ban all veehickles.
Finding a beautiful lake is a whole lot fun’er when you’ve walked 3 days with an empty canteen.
possum,
Plus the benefit of all those dead bodies you had to pass on he way, whose canteens went empty four or five days out, eh?
Bruen/Heller means absolutely nothing to the criminals in power. They have been ignoring it and will continue to do so…with impunity. The law, the Constitution, Rules, Morality, Ethics…NONE of those apply to the left. They exist ONLY for the left to use and abuse us with.
The pen is only mightier then the sword when its gouged eraser deep in an eye socket.
The Supreme Court or Constitution says just don’t mean a whole hell of a lot anymore.
Shall Not Be Infringed what does that mean.
Well it means theres a whole bunch of gunms the government says I can’t have and it means the government must give me permission to have the ones they do let me have.
But that’s all irrelevant because after all the FFL dealers are closed down and the ATF shutes you for selling or buying gunms, Shall Not don’t mean much.
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