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Thursday, February 18, 2010

Guns allowed in some national parks starting Mon.

Beginning Monday visitors to some U.S. national parks will be able to carry loaded weapons for the first time in 94 years. In June we reported Congress had passed the new law requiring parks to abide by their state's gun laws. "The law will not give park visitors blanket permission to possess firearms, it will allow visitors to carry guns into any park, provided they follow all federal, state and local laws," Erich Hiner of the Scripps Howard News Service reports.

Hunting will still be banned in the parks, and firearms will still not be permitted in federally owned buildings such as ranger stations and visitor centers. "We will take the 'firearms prohibited' signs off at the front gate," parks spokesman David Barna told Hiner. "A lot of the burden is on the public to know the laws of your state." Regulations will also vary within some parks like Yellowstone which covers land in three states, and the Appalachian Trail, which runs through nine states. (Read more)

"The move concerns current and former employees of the National Park Service who are convinced that the move will damage the spirit of the nation's park system," reports Ed O'Keefe of The Washington Post. "Congress lifted the gun ban last spring, after years of efforts by a bipartisan coalition that said differences in state and federal firearms laws made it difficult for gun owners to travel between state and federal laws." (Read more)

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