A Shot for Freedom Expected Today

At least there's one freedom defending organization with enough clout to successful navigate the legislative waters of Capitol Hill: the NRA.

The House should pass today the Credit Card bill (which will probably eliminate credit to many marginal applicants and increase costs to all others) which contains within it the Coburn Amendment -- yep, that Coburn -- that would allow citizens who otherwise legally meet all the requirements of their state's firearms laws laws to carry weapons in national parks.

The Senate already passed the bill with 67 votes, veto proof.

The bill would also standardize the gun policy of the various federal agencies that manage federal lands. For example, the Parks Service forbids firearms on its lands, whereas the Bureau of Land Management permits them. Thirty-one states already allow the carrying of firearms in their state parks.

"We have been working on this measure for close to a decade," said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "We think it's a reasonable measure that helps law-abiding people."

The anti-gun left is unhappy, but that's nothing new. The chief complaint is that rampant violence will now take place in national parks. Newsflash: a great deal of violence already does, and law-abiding citizens have had no legal means to defend themselves.

Arulanandam rejected [the] argument that the bill will cause more violence. "Citizens who behave in a lawful manner elsewhere in their states are not going to become violent all of the sudden just because they happen to be in a national park," he said.

Arulanandam cited National Parks Service statistics showing that visitors to national parks are victimized every year — murders, rapes, and robberies — and that the parks often conceal secret methamphetamine labs and marijuana fields. Given the relative scarcity of law enforcement within large parks, law-abiding visitors might find a firearm necessary in the event that someone tries to victimize them.

The anti-gun left contends that the numbers of murders, rapes, kidnappings, thefts and robberies are minimal compared to the millions who visit the parks.

I would contend that with the new regulation in effect, that number will drop even farther.

Also, the number of visitors include those people who drive into a national park, snap a few pictures and visit the tourist center, and then leave for the nearest town where there are, uh, more modern entertainments and conveniences. This type of visitor is not a high profile target. It's the one who camps in tent or RV, who spends a couple of days hiking on the back trails or reading on a blanket in front of tent, who becomes the real target of opportunity. If the National Park Service numbers reflected the statistics based on this, rather than total visitors, the numbers would not be so minimal.

I know whereof I speak on this matter. I have spent, and will continue to spend, a great deal of time camping and hiking in the national parks system. It will not trouble me to know that there may be someone in my campground who is trained and licensed to responsibly carry a weapon.

I might even become one of them.