I've been to a lot of national parks. My family is the kind that will drive cross-country just to get to a national park and then drive through it, ooh-and-aah at the animals, take a few pictures of the waterfalls, and drive back. We've been doing it for many summers, and pine trees and grizzly bears dominate my childhood photo albums. As my high school biology teacher would say, it's good for me to spend time outdoors, appreciating nature.
Perhaps that's why I was so struck when I read the New York Times piece about a letter to the Secretary of the Interior. 47 US Senators (led byMontana Democrat Max Baucus and Idaho Republican Mike Crapo) wrote Secretary Kempthorne to advocate for the lifting of the ban on bringing ready-to-fire weapons into national parks and refuges.
To me, that's antithetical to the idea of a "refuge." Let's set aside thousands of acres that won't be developed and will be pristine and should be a safe haven for the feathered and furred creatures...but feel free to bring your loaded guns!
Hunting is not allowed in national parks and refuges, but that doesn't mean that poaching doesn't occur. Though I guess it wouldn't really take much longer for someone to assemble and load the weapon...
Perhaps that's why I was so struck when I read the New York Times piece about a letter to the Secretary of the Interior. 47 US Senators (led byMontana Democrat Max Baucus and Idaho Republican Mike Crapo) wrote Secretary Kempthorne to advocate for the lifting of the ban on bringing ready-to-fire weapons into national parks and refuges.
To me, that's antithetical to the idea of a "refuge." Let's set aside thousands of acres that won't be developed and will be pristine and should be a safe haven for the feathered and furred creatures...but feel free to bring your loaded guns!
Hunting is not allowed in national parks and refuges, but that doesn't mean that poaching doesn't occur. Though I guess it wouldn't really take much longer for someone to assemble and load the weapon...
Labels: guns
2 Comments:
Interesting little nugget of information. Also thanks for a non-primary post!
Did TR, an avid hunter himself, oppose hunting in national parks? Of course, there certainly was not nearly as many endangered species then as now, so point well taken.
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