Law change allows guns at U.S. parks, wildlife areas

http://lakeexpo.com/articles/2010/02/21/top_news/07.txt

By Kim McGuire/St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT)

Published: Saturday, February 20, 2010 4:25 PM CST

Starting Monday, a new federal law will allow guns to be carried into national parks and wildlife refuges across the country, including the Gateway Arch grounds and Missouri's Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

And while critics say the presence of guns in parks will disrupt some of the country's most serene settings, it doesn't mean visitors can expect to share a tram ride up the Arch with someone who's got a pistol tucked in a boot.

Gun owners must still follow all applicable municipal, state and federal laws while visiting parks and refuges. And guns will still be prohibited in federal facilities that are regularly staffed by National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees.

At the Arch, for example, guns will continue to be banned in the visitors center, the Old Courthouse, offices, the parking garage and maintenance buildings.

The Arch grounds, however, will now be open to gun owners obeying the law, said Pete Swisher, chief ranger.

"I think the easiest way to describe that area is the area outside of the Arch," Swisher said. "Once someone with a gun tries to go inside the building, security is going to stop them."

U.S. Department of Interior officials say it will be up to gun owners to know the law before entering a park or wildlife refuge.

Some states allow only concealed weapons to be carried while others also permit open carry. And most have reciprocity agreements that allow guns licensed in other states to be carried in another.

Park officials concede the overlapping web of state gun laws may be difficult for visitors to untangle.

For example, many of the large parks considered crown jewels in the system, have boundaries that cross states that have wildly varying gun laws.

In the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, visitors will be allowed to openly carry weapons in North Carolina. But if they cross over into Tennessee, they'll need a carry permit.

"If you're planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail, for example, you better know several state laws," said David Barna, a Washington-based Park Service spokesman.

Barna, however, said agency officials believe most gun owners are well-versed in the law since many have had to undergo education courses in order to carry a weapon in some states.

He added that the agency will take advantage of the lull in visitors between now and the summer to try to educate visitors about the new law and what it means for the park system.

By Monday, each park and refuge website should contain information about where guns are prohibited and where they will be allowed. Similarly, new signs will be posted at park entrances and other high traffic areas informing visitors about the change.

Inserted into the popular Credit Card Reform Act approved by Congress last year, the law undoes a 94-year-old ban on guns in national parks unless they were unloaded or unassembled. The new law, sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and backed by the National Rifle Association, only addresses possession and has no impact on authorized uses of guns.

The law has been criticized by environmentalists, anti-gun groups and park supporters who fear it will lead to an increase in shootings of wildlife, historic buildings and even park personnel.

Bill Wade, a chairman for the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, calls the new law a "sad chapter" in the storied history of the park system.

"On the heels of the Ken Burns documentary about the importance of national parks to America and after a year of increased visitation to parks despite a poor economy, this law will have a chilling effect on how visitors behave in national parks," said Wade, the former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park. "A feeling of safety and security will be replaced by wariness and suspicion."

While the new law won't have a significant impact on the Gateway Arch and other structure-based parks like the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site near Kansas City, a large part of the 80,000-acre Ozark National Scenic Riverways will now be opened to guns.

The park's hiking paths, popular horse trails and portions of the Current and Jacks Fork rivers that flow through the park will see existing restrictions lifted. In recent years, park officials have been trying to reign in rowdy behavior at the park by drunken canoeists and boaters.

But Dena Matteson, a park spokeswoman, said Ozark National Scenic Riverways managers are not overly worried about guns on the river or elsewhere.

"There are intoxication and firearms laws already in place that carry serious penalties," she said. "We doubt anyone wants to take that risk."

Guns are already a familiar presence in many national wildlife refuges and parks like the Ozark National Scenic Riverways that allow hunting in designated areas.

Angel Kruzen, with the Sierra Club's Missouri water sentinel program, said she didn't foresee the new gun law causing major problems at the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

She did question, however, how the law might make it more difficult for law enforcement officers to catch people illegally shooting wildlife from their vehicles.

"I think it may be more difficult to enforce," said Kruzen, who lives in Mountain View, Mo. "In the past, if they saw someone sitting in their car with a loaded gun, it was pretty clear what they were up to. Now, I suspect that's going to be a little more difficult."

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