Breaking News: President George W. Bush Lifts National Park Gun Ban

President George W. Bush and the Interior Department have lifted the 25 year-old ban on allowing loaded weapons in United States National Parks. The new measure will begin in January and will allow the carrying of loaded and concealed weapons in parks where states already allow concealed weapons in other venues. This new measure will also override any state law against concealed and loaded weapons in parks, as long as that state has other legal laws for the carrying of concealed weapons. (confused?)

If you can carry (a gun) on Main Street, you are allowed to carry in a national park,” said Chris Paolino. a spokesman for the Interior Department.

This is coming from an article posted on Newsweek’s website explaining the impact of the new measures and how they will relate to existing laws.

This law overrides a 25 year-old law that stipulated that all weapons carried into National Parks and wildlife preserves had to be unloaded and carried in the trunk of a vehicle.  The old law came about during the Reagan administration.  The new law will begin before President-Elect Barack Obama takes office in January.

This new law, which park rangers say will confuse people, has been lauded by the NRA for allowing “law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families while enjoying America’s national parks and wildlife refuges.”

In a recent AT&T/Yahoo poll, 67% of respondents favored this new measure, while only 28% opposed.  The remaining had no say or did not know enogh about the situation to respond.  What are your thoughts on this recent change to our National park gun laws?  Leave your thoughts in a comment below for possible use in a future article at U.S. Outdoors Today.