newsobserver.com projects - Concealed guns now OK in national parks - Comments

A couple of 'em, actually

scharrison — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:13:17 -0500

Trigger-locked and unloaded, but they weren't secured in any kind of safe. Frankly, I never seriously worried about my house being broken into. Great neighborhood, modest homes, children playing unattended, etc. So I get a call at work one day that burglers hit three houses, mine included. :(

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

ncpoli — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:04:28 -0500

SC, as someone who was burgled, did you have a firearm stolen? If so, why wasn't it properly locked up?

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

scharrison — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:37:52 -0500

"think about the movie Deliverance"

Yeah, we should definitely construct our rules, regulations and laws from things we see in movies, especially those based on fiction novels. We should also pass a law that all dead bodies must be cremated, so we'll at least have a fighting chance when the zombies rise up. ;)

Seriously, as someone who has been burgled, I can tell you that guns (especially handguns) are in the top five favorite things for a thief to steal. They're small and easily fenced for good money, and allowing them into national parks is going to up the ante on "money to be made" from crime out in the boonies. We'll have to see if it actually reduces the number of assaults and armed robberies, which are statistically rare. I have a feeling they might go up, and then the question will be: was this a mistake? More than likely, people will point to the increase as even more of a reason to allow carried handguns. Either way (crime up/crime down) the NRA and the handgun manufacturers win.

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

lpetrou — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:01:23 -0500

Responding to Gosh. The only federal building that Senator Burr has an office in is the one in Washington, D.C. He is not afraid of his constituents; he is the most approachable elected official I have ever meet. Every week end he is out and about not only in his community but also in the state. He comes home from Washington almost every week end and when they are not in session and he gets into his car and drives all over the state meeting people. Scared of constituents, I think not.

Typical liberal

informed — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:01:18 -0500

Poking a finger in the eye of conservatives. If you support gun control, you're welcome to move to an area that already has it, and the correspondingly higher violent crime rate. Criminals support gun controls, too :)

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

PercyKution — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:31:45 -0500

Should have been done a long time ago.

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

bnnyfoo — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:49:58 -0500

Think about the Blue Ridge Appalachian Trail , think about the movie Deliverance, think about the rapes and murders of hikers, think about bears and wild boar looking for a fig newton, then think NO GUN!

I think it is a good idea!

Re: Concealed guns now OK in national parks

bnnyfoo — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:49:58 -0500

I think it is a good idea!

Typical Burr

Gosh — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:29:21 -0500

The new rules do not allow... the carrying of weapons into federal buildings.

Campground tourists apparently have nothing to worry about, so what's Burr scared of?

Constituents?

Concealed guns now OK in national parks

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:20:33 -0500

Residents with concealed weapons permits can now carry their guns into Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the Smoky Mountains National Park.

The U.S. Department of Interior issued new rules today allowing guns into national parks and wildlife refuges if residents also have concealed weapons permits in the state where the parks are located.
Previous regulations prevented firearms in national parks, even when a carrier held a concealed weapon permit, Barb Barrett reports.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican and a hunter, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing for change. He had co-sponsored legislation that would have allowed guns in parks.

"This is just to allow law-abiding citizens to continue to carry their weapon while they're in the national park, when the state allows them to carry anyway," said Burr spokesman Chris Walker.

The new rules do not allow target practice or the carrying of weapons into federal buildings.