A few questions occurred to me after reading the following article: http://www.npsretirees.org/feature/fighting-keep-gun-ban
I don't understand the concern over allowing law abiding citizens to remain armed in National Parks who are already armed everywhere else they are legally allowed such as State Parks, camping grounds, crowded movie theaters, & shopping malls without incident? Armed law abiding citizens are not a problem in any region, so why will they suddenly become raving lunatics the moment they step into a National Park? It's the criminals that are the problem, not the law abiding. Criminals do not care about breaking a silly "gun free zone" regulation when they already ignore much more important laws such as the law against murder, drug trafficking, etc. They actually prefer unarmed victims in gun free zones as it makes their profession of crime safer for them - just look at Washington DC where the only people with handguns are the Police & the Criminals yet Washington DC is often called the "Murder Capitol" of the world.
Yes, per square foot or per visitor National Parks are "more safe" than the same ratios in many crime ridden cities, but that is no excuse to disarm the law abiding. Telling law abiding citizens that it is "unlikely" that they would need to defend themselves is not going to make a disarmed victim feel any better when they become yet another statistic of rape or murder in National Parks. It is unlikely that my house will ever burn down, yet I still waste money on fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, & fire insurance in preparation for the worst case scenario that will likely never take place. It's called "being prepared" - ever hear of the Boy Scouts? I am an Eagle Scout & I believe in being prepared. Being prepared to protect myself in the unlikely event that I were to need to does not make me a gun wielding crazy person that retired Park Rangers should be afraid of.
Every time a new law or regulation expands the locations law abiding citizens are allowed to carry weapons for their own protection we always hear dire predictions from opponents of blood & mayhem in the streets, yet it never happens. Look at Florida as just one example - those against allowing CCW carry (including many Florida Chiefs of Police) predicted wild west gun battles over parking spaces & blood running down the streets. It never happened, and instead violent crime levels actually went down in Florida after the law went into effect.
With your permission I'll be posting your response at the following URL once I receive it:
http://dustinsgunblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/some-national-park-retirees-are-worried.html
Update - as of March 10th 2008 it has been 2 weeks since I sent the above E-mail & still no reply. I guess they simply have no rational answer to my straight forward questions.
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