Democrats say they’ll fight for gun ban in parks

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers • Published March 02, 2008

WASHINGTON – With a showdown looming, Rep. Norm Dicks says he's prepared to block any effort by the administration to lift the ban on carrying loaded weapons in national parks.

It's not an idle threat.

As chairman of the House Appropriations interior subcommittee, Dicks oversees the National Parks Service's annual budget and is in a position to prevent the administration from dropping the Reagan-era ban. While the Washington Democrat is usually reluctant to add legislative provisions to his spending bill, he is ready to make an exception in this case even if it prompts a presidential veto.

"Every now and then something rises up that needs to be fought and this is one of them," Dicks said.

The ban, and efforts by the National Rifle Association to lift it, has emerged as a major Second Amendment issue in this election year. Democrats say Republicans are using it as a "wedge" to exploit gun issues in an already heated political atmosphere. Republicans say they are just trying to protect the rights of gun owners.

The dispute already has interrupted consideration of a public lands bill in the Senate, which included the creation of the 100,000-acre Wild Sky Wilderness area in Washington.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has said the ban is under review and a new regulation will be released April 30 that will update firearms policies in the national parks and wildlife refuges.

Current regulations ban loaded weapons in the federal parks and refuges. Unloaded weapons can be carried if they are locked in a safe place such as a car trunk.

Dicks said his counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has told him she would use her position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations interior subcommittee to also block any changes in the current regulations.

"Permitting loaded firearms to be carried or used within our national parks or wildlife refuges would be a radical, unprecedented change that would likely upset the delicate balance that exists between wildlife and park visitors in these areas," Dicks and Feinstein said in a letter to Kempthorne.