Gunplay may increase at national parks.

PositionYOUR LIFE

Assault rifles on Mather Point overlooking the Grand Canyon? Shotguns at Lamar River Valley in the backcountry at Yellowstone National Park? Handguns on the Filene Center concert lawn at Wolf Trap in the Washington, D.C., suburbs? As of Feb. 22--ironically, George Washington's birthday--a new gun law went into effect in U.S. national park areas, warns the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Tucson, Ariz.

An amendment to the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights of 2009--authored by Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.), pro-rooted by the National Rifle Association, passed by Congress, and signed into law by Pres. Barack Obama--permits park visitors to possess firearms in national park areas consistent with the laws of the state in which the area is located. This is a significant departure from long-established regulations that allowed visitors to possess guns in parks only if they were unloaded and stowed out of reach.

"We believe the public should be aware of the consequences of Coburn's amendment," cautions Doug Morris, a member of the CNPSR executive council and a former law enforcement ranger and park superintendent in the NPS. "While Federal law prohibits the carrying of guns in any Federal building where Federal employees work on a regular basis, in many states there are few, if any, other prohibitions."

Adds Bill Wade, chair of CNPSR's executive council and former superintendent of Virginia's Shenandoah National Park: "This is a sad chapter in the history of America's premier system of heritage areas. On the heals of the Ken Burns documentary about the importance of national parks to the U.S., and after a year of increased visitation despite a poor economy, this law will have a chilling effect on how people behave in national parks. A feeling of safety and security will be replaced by wariness and suspicion. This diminishes some of the 'specialness and reverence' our citizens have long accorded to their national parks."

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While many states, and therefore the national...

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