No
Guns On Sacred Pipestone National Monument Grounds
Other Issues
"Once
again, political leaders in the Bush administration have ignored
the preferences of the American public by succumbing to political
pressure, in this case generated by the National Rifle Association,"
said Bill Wade, president of the Coalition of National Park Service
Retirees.
"This
regulation will put visitors, employees and precious resources
of the National Park System at risk. We will do everything possible
to overturn it and return to a commonsense approach to guns in
national parks that has been working for decades," Wade said.
As
well as the traditional and spiritual issues at the Pipestone
National Monument, there are other issues pertaining to National
parks as a whole. When my kids were young we always went camping
for our vacations, we travelled around America staying in National
park campgrounds. I felt they were the safest places to be, coming
from England I had heard all about the violence in America when
it came to guns and I knew that they were not allowed in the parks,
so I didn't have to worry about some crazy shooting us because
we spoke with a different accent or something equally stupid.
Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the new rule was a mistake.
"The
Reagan-era rules have stood the test of time and make our national
parks safe for all who visit them," Feinstein said. "The
Bush administration changes will make our national parks more
dangerous and will upset the delicate balance that exists between
park visitors and wildlife."
Interior
Department spokesman Chris Paolino said the rule would not affect
a ban on guns in federal buildings. Guns will still be prohibited
in national icons such as Independence Hall and the Statue of
Liberty, he said. Guns also will be banned in visitor centers
and other buildings at national parks.
Pipestone
National Monuments Visitor center is located slap bang in the
middle of the Park, next to the Parking lot and the Circle trail,
people go into there before walking the trail. I want to know
how they are going to monitor who is carrying a gun and who isn't
when they come into the building. Will they not erect a monitoring
device like in airports where someone has to be standing there
all the time? It seems the only way. However there are 3 public
entrances into the building, so I guess all of them have to have
one of these devices. There are no 'In' and 'Out' doors, people
use the same doors for both functions, which means that the ones
going out would have to use the same machine as those coming in.
then again the staff entrance is another way people could get
in if they are lost, surely that would need one as well! A logistic
nightmare for such a small park, and costly as well I can imagine.
Or am I being overly security minded and the whole thing would
be done on trust? How would the Homeland security feel about that
I wonder?
To
my mind in today's world this is a backwards step, clinging to
the gun mentality. When terrorists find out about this new ruling
what is to stop them coming into a large Park and causing havoc
because they know people there will be carrying weapons. Instead
of encouraging people to carry weapons we should be teaching survival
without them, how to read body language, be street wise and trust
in our own instincts.
The
largest national park seems to be in Alaska (Wrangell - St Elias)
it has over 20,000 acres. Pipestone has just 283 acres. I can
understand the security nightmare for such a large park but for
Pipestone? There is no need.
Law Abiding
Citizens
Fifty
one (51) United States Senators* wrote to the Secretary
of the Interior asking the National Park Service and U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service to "remove their prohibitions on
law-abiding citizens from transporting and carrying firearms on
lands managed by these agencies"
The
words 'law-abiding
citizens' confuses
me. I want to know how Parks are going to know if these people
carrying the guns are 'law-abiding' or even 'citizens'.
Are they going to ask to see their passports, or any record
they may have? the whole thing seems ludicrious to me.
The
letter from Senators
Criminal
Acts
One
of the reasons for this ruling to be made is that criminal activity
shows an 'alarming increase'.
For 2007 the figures show the following:
8
murders, 43 forcible rapes, 57 robberies and 274 instances of
aggravated assault.
Now
let's look at those figures.
There
are 51 States, Some states lack a national park; others have many.
Some parks encompass land in more than one state. Parks vary greatly
in size, but the largest are generally in the West and Alaska,
where large blocks of undeveloped and government-owned land existed.
However, new parks continue to be created throughout the country.
Right now there are 390 National Parks so lets use that number.
8
murders - 390 Parks = 382 parks didn't have any
43
forcable rapes - 390 Parks = 347 didn't have any
57
robberies - 390 Parks = 333 didn't have any
274
aggravated assaults - 390 Parks = 116 didn't have any
By
my reckoning even if you add all of these acts together it doesn't
add up to 1 per park (382)
Due
to those figures though these politicians believe we should all
carry guns to protect ourselves!
Safety
First
Surely
the NPS and FWS law enforcement officers who already carry guns,
on show, to the visitors should be enough protection. These men
and women are trained in weapon management and are experienced
in dealing with situations where things get overheated. They will
not fire their gun in anger or because they are scared as a non-trained,
inexperienced person would probably do. Instead of letting visitors
carry firearms, why not employ more trained personel, with all
of the jobs being lost nationwide surely this would be the sensible
thing to do. It would be much safer than allowing gun-toting John
Wayne's to carry theirs.
Animal
Safety
Another
concern are the animals that reside on NPS and WR lands. We all
know of people who will go up to a bear or buffalo as if they
were toys. These people are in danger from their own making, and
can you imagine what they would do if the had a weapon? They would
be getting closer because they felt bigger because of the gun
. If the animal reacted to them the way wild animals do they could
shoot them. A dangerous ruling.
*
Signed
from Senator Crappo - (ID), and Senator Baucus - (MT), Additional
signators: Inhofe - (R - OK), Vitter - (R - LA), Smith - (R -
OR), Hatch - (R - UT), Coleman (R - MN), Coburn - (R - OK), Gregg
- (R - NH), Johnson - (D - SD), Tester - (D - MT), Pryor - (D
- AR), Lincoln - (D - AR), Dorgan - (D - ND), Nelson - (D - NE),
Webb - (D - VA), Ensign - (R - NV), Murkowski - (R - AK), Stevens
- (R - AK), Chambliss - (R - GA), Isakson - (R - GA), Allard -
(R - CO), Grassley - (R - IA), Roberts - (R - KS), Sununu - (R
- NH), Bennett - (R - UT), Cochran - (R - MS), Bunning - (R -
KY), Thune - (R - SD), Corker - (R - TN), Hutchison - (R - TX),
Martinez - (R - FL), Cornyn - (R - TX), Hagel - (R - NE), Dole
- (R - NC), McCain - (R - AZ), Brownback - (R - KS), DeMint -
(R - SC), Kyl - (R - AZ), Shelby - (R - AL), Graham - (R - SC),
Trent - (R-MS), Enzi - (R - WY), Barrasso - (R - WY), Domenici
- (R - NM), Sessions - (R - AL).
Additionally
a few months later the following Senators added their names to
the list:
Feingold - (WI), Specter - (PA), Bond - (MO) and Wicker - (MS).
