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I am getting a big kick out of all these doom & gloom reports about if firearms are allowed in the National Parks. I can remember when firearms WERE allowed in the National Parks and there were NO problems reported back then. Don't blame an inanimate object for the behavior of crazy people. Blame the crazy people for their own actions and then lock them up.



But, do you not see the shift in social dynamics in respect to firearms? When I grew up in the mountains of VA the game wardens did not even pack weapons. But society and the respect people have for each other has shifted some and they are armed now for self protection.Are not the Parks running at all time highs in terms of visitors? I run into folks occasionally in the various Utah wilderness area I frequent and of those times only a few are openly carrying. But man you go to a national park and you are constantly tripping over people. I'm sure someone with more brain power than me can provide so statistical model showing how much greater the risk of an accident is. I think we all realize it's the idiot behind the gun that kills, not the gun. The SOB that shot me certainly was one of those idiots.

I'll use my own situation last summer in Glacier. We had just arrived and I took the family down to the little lake by the swiftcurrent inn because I figured we she the usual moose or two there. While walking in the brush, my wife started complaining (she's no country girl and was terrified of the thought of bears) and just as I turned to tell her to relax a Moose Cow and Calf burst right by us by no more than a few feet. Now my wife about had a heart attack and I wonder how many other edging people would have been startled and shot at the sound? She told me afterwards that she thought it was a bear attacking even though it was actually moose trying to get away from us. Who else is going to think bear?

I'm not a gun control liberal nut either(said slightly humourously so as not to offend). I believe in our right to bear arms. Heck I spent 22 years in the Army and carried various weapons throughout my carrier. I even spent 6 years in special ops carrying concealed weapons daily and it took several years after that for me to feel comfortable not carrying. But the national parks are the wrong place for weapons in my opinion.

Jim www.pbase.com/jhuddle