"Our parks are a refuge for not only wildlife, but as peaceful havens to our citizens as well." --John T. Waterman, President, Ranger Lodge, Fraternal Order of Police

Federal rules and regulations have an important impact on how Americans live their lives...and vacation. The Secretary of the Department of Interior is proposing a rule to change existing regulations regarding firearms in National Parks and Refuges and would allow visitors to carry loaded concealed weapons.

The former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park asks: "Do visitors want other visitors with concealed handguns sitting next to them in park concession restaurants, or in park visitor center auditoriums during interpretive programs, or walking with them during ranger-guided walks? Will parks and concessionaires now have to install metal detectors at the entrances to lodges and visitor centers and other administrative facilities?"

June 30, 2008 is the deadline for citizens to contact the Interior Department about this proposed change in park and wildlife refuge policy. Firearms were first banned in national parks in the 1930s to curb poaching. The current rules, implemented under President Reagan, allow visitors to carry firearms so long as they are "rendered temporarily inoperable or are packed, cased or stored in a manner that will prevent their ready use."

To protect visitors, rangers, and wildlife, we urge you to email or write the Interior Department today asking that they maintain the present regulations and not allow visitors to carry loaded concealed weapons.

Bill Wade, chairman of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, says: "There are no existing data that suggest any public interest to be gained by allowing visitors to parks to possess concealed handguns." In fact, the fear is that these firearms would endanger visitors, park employees, and wildlife.

Important Background on Federal Rulemaking: In order to change the existing regulations, the Department of Interior must consider the public comments received about the changes -- these comments DO make a difference, but it is important that they be individual.

Your Comments: Whether emailing or writing when submitting a comment on rule making, it is important that you personalize your correspondence -- if the letters are all the same, they will only count as one!

For that reason we do not have a pre-written letter for you to edit this week. Instead, we have included some quotes and messages that you might use to write a comment of your own as well as instructions for where/how to send your comment. In your comment, if you can, tell your own story about a visit to a National Park or Wildlife Refuge and how it would have made you feel if you thought there was someone nearby with a loaded concealed weapon.

• Protecting visitors -- Visitors to the parks should be able to enjoy the beauty of the scenery and the animals, as well as stay in the campgrounds and lodges without fear of the many dangerous scenarios of being near someone with a loaded gun who is unfamiliar with the area, the wildlife, or in the middle of a domestic dispute.

From a letter from the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police to Secretary of Interior Kempthorne:
"...crime statistics show that the presence of a loaded weapon greatly increases the chance that it might be used in the heat of a domestic dispute. Unfortunately, we respond to an alarming number of such disputes in our campgrounds, in holdings and commercial lodging each year. Even without loaded guns available to the people involved, responding to and diffusing such situations is extremely dangerous to both the families camping in the area and the responding rangers." http://www.npca.org/media_center/pdf/fop_to_kempthorne_guns_nat_parks.pdf

• Protecting park animals -- Already there is increased poaching of animals in national parks and refuges -- the very reason for the original ban on firearms in the parks. Park Rangers are trained to know when and how to protect visitors from potentially dangerous wildlife ... and vice versa. Allowing others, unfamiliar with both the parks and the wildlife, to carry loaded firearms could be lethal to visitors and wildlife alike.

From a letter from the Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police to Secretary Kempthorne "Poaching on National Park lands is epidemic and ranger staff is already overwhelmed. We cannot effectively patrol our boundaries, roads and wilderness to adequately protect the wildlife we are charged with preserving. Under current laws, the presence of a loaded weapon in a vehicle or in the possession of a hiker is, many times, a critical clue which allows our rangers to investigate further to find if poaching or other illegal activity is taking place. If you adopt this change, that vital tool is removed and put our parks’ wildlife at even greater risk." http://www.npca.org/media_center/pdf/fop_to_kempthorne_guns_nat_parks.pdf

From a Statement by the Association of National Park Rangers:
"Park units are sanctuaries for human and animal alike, and in some cases may be the only viable habitat for a specific species. Unlike some other private, state, and federal property, natural resources in National Parks are protected, unless specified differently in the park's enabling legislation. Because of this, humans do not have the right to kill an animal in a National Park in order to protect life or property. Allowing firearms in National Parks would increase the risk to animals, primarily predatory species, considerably." http://www.anpr.org/guns_in_parks.htm

• In 1997, the Episcopal Church passed resolution C035 which urges the U.S. Congress to increase restrictions on the sale, ownership, and use of firearms and to encourage legislation banning concealed weapons. And further states that legislation to ban carrying concealed firearms be encouraged.

When you write, be sure to include:

• Reference number for this regulation - 1024-AD70
• Your Name
• Address including street, city, and zip code
• Phone number

To send an e-mail go to: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=09000064805b0393

To send a letter:

Public Comments Processing, Attn: 1024-AD70
Division of Policy and Directives Management
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 222
Arlington, VA 22203

Please send us a copy of your comment letter either by email -- eppn@episcopalchurch.org -- or my mail at Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations; ATTN: EPPN; 110 Maryland Ave.,NE # 309, Washington, DC 20002.

Among the groups urging the Interior Department to keep, not change, the current restrictions are:

Coalition of National Park Service Retirees

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Information on Commenting on this rule

Association of National Park Rangers

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Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police

National Parks Conservation Association