Domenici: Interior Dept. Makes "Right Move" to Address Gun Rights on National Park & Refuge Lands
Press Release
Domenici: Interior Dept. Makes "Right Move" to Address Gun Rights on National Park & Refuge Lands
-- Public Comment Open Until June 30 on Proposed Regulation Change --
U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today welcomed a move by the U.S. Department of the Interior to lift restrictions that keep law-abiding gun owners from carrying firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges.
The Interior Department today published draft regulations to allow law-abiding gun owners to transport and carry firearms on federal lands administered by the National Park Service (NPS) and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Essentially, the rule proposes that each state's concealed weapons laws pertaining to state parks and refuges would serve as the Interior Department's guide to acceptable firearms possession in the national parks and refuges.
Domenici, a Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee member, was among a majority of Senators that strongly encouraged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to move forward with the regulatory change process "in the interest of Second Amendment rights and consistency in firearms policy across federal public land management agencies."
"I believe the Interior Department is making the right move with this proposed rule. This change would allow people who can legally carry firearms on Forest Service or BLM lands to do the same in wildlife refuges and national parks. This is reasonable. It sets state gun rights laws as a standard. Gun owners will still have to adhere to carrying and discharge rules, which have worked on other federal property," said Domenici, a long-time hunter.
The proposed rule change would make NPS and FWS firearms regulations consistent with those of the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The plan is now subject to a public comment period extending to June 30.
Current regulations generally prohibit visitors from possessing an operable and loaded firearm on NPS or FWS lands unless otherwise allowed for lawful hunting or target practice.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source