Thursday, February 24, 2011

We could have told people this a year ago

When law abiding citizens are allowed to carry for defense, from man or beast, they tend to obey the law.
One year ago today, on February 22, 2010, the National Park Service lifted the ban on carrying concealed weapons in the parks for those who have permits to do so.

The change came about when the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act was signed into law on May 22, 2009.  The bill contained a line item added at the last moment by a Republican senator, specifically allowing people with concealed carry permits to carry their guns into national parks in the states covered by their permits.

At the time, critics predicted that the new rule would frighten families away from the parks, and that the number of animals shot by gun owners in the parks would increase exponentially.
So what actually happened? 

Not much at all, noted David Barna, spokesperson for the National Park Service, in an email.  There was “really almost no impact,” he wrote.

9 comments:

  1. National parks are fine. Colleges, like they're trying to do in Florida, are not.

    Mmm, beer and guns.

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  2. I am a civil war reenactor, and we often get a lot of gun questions that make you say, "Hanh"??!! in answer.

    Europeans have a problem with "gun ownership" and what it leads to, but at some of the reenactments, you talk to the tourists (who tell you what they think of the US and the people they've met, believe me, they do) they always talk about the danger they, well don't feel in the midst of a "gun-happy" populace. They are surprised.

    You point out to them that they are in the midst of several thousand armed men and women, and no one murders anyone at all.
    They say yes, but you don't use real ammunition.
    You show them that you have several projectiles, and so does everyone else.
    Even petty crime is rare in such a gathering.

    But I've noticed that among the harder core "liberals" and "conservatives" you get the same bug-eyed, rigid-jawed, tight-lipped look of rage when you say "fetus" or "gun".

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  3. Ah come on Lesly....I always choose a fine beer whose quality and bouquet compliments and accentuates my gun of choice.

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  4. Sarge, I may have underestimated you.

    You out that better than I could have! There is some truth to the adage that an armed society is a polite society.....

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  5. Thanks! Pretty good for a "Leg" ('scuse me, gotta pronounce it right: that's "Laaiig"), huh?

    Good ol' Bob Heinlein...had a lot on the ball didn't he?

    I noticed something about the inconsistency and ambivilence of the views of those who literally fear arms/the armed/being armed... or say they do.
    The recent shooting of that congresswoman, I honestly think that Archie Bunker was onto something when I listen to the pundits. Would they have felt better if the nut-job had plowed into them all with a car?

    But more telling was five years ago. My wife was assaulted and raped by four young "men". They made bail before my wife got out of the emergency room, they were never prosecuted.

    They threatened her, harrassed her, and so in spite of police instructions (cop face, cop voice, threats), my wife (turning sixty) armed herself, got a concealed carry permit, and sure enough, they tried again. She non fataly shot one.
    People were furious with her for "taking matters into (her) own hands, blah blah blah. Especially one of our more sophisticated neighbor ladies, who has opined that every firearm in the US should be confiscated and destroyed. No one has the right...she felt my wife should have endured what these young "men" do what they wanted, then "give the system a chance to work".

    But a year after that I saw that she was having trouble carrying something and went to help her. No, I dislike the woman, but she needed help, so I helped. She dropped her purse and out falls a beautiful Berretta 9mm.
    I asked her about this item, found she'd had a concealed carry license and packed heat for ten years.
    Why was it OK for her, not my wife?
    "Because there's thousands of her and only one of me", I was told.

    That's the societal attitude we really face over the hoi poloi able to say "no" and back it up.

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  6. Sarge, how horrible. Your wife should've shot them all dead, imo. Self defense is self defense. I would have acquitted her.

    Why was it OK for her, not my wife?
    "Because there's thousands of her and only one of me", I was told.


    This attitude is American as apple pie. What's good for me is bad for you. Or federal programs aren't a waste of tax dollars when they help me, but everyone else bilks the system. Or I should be able to walk my daughter across the picket line, but every other woman getting an abortion is a slut. Etc.

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  7. Wow Sarge......I'm sorry to hear that happened, but I hope your wife got at least a bit of relief from exacting some retribution.

    There are numerous examples of people believing themselves to be worthy of personal protection but not others....either by armed bodyguards or personal carry. Rosie O'Donnell is the key example that always comes to mind for that hypocrisy.

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  8. That was a tough year for us. I had a stroke, was temporarily blind in one eye, and some demented woman ran me down with her jeep.

    My wife had this assault and rape happen.

    She told me that when she had gone to Louisiana to take part in the rescue efforts after Katrina she had her suspicions, but after her two ordeals she knew the truth of the old Irish saying, "There is no situation so bad that it can't be worsened by the presence of a policeman".
    At the end of the day she saw scant difference between the cops and the people who harmed her.

    Her "assailants" cornered her, she pulled out the gun and warned them off, they laughed, told her that she was really in trouble now, and she wouldn't dare shoot.
    She proved them wrong.
    She told me that the looks on their faces was quite nice, as was the whizz stains on their pants.
    She says that when she relieves herself in the morning it adds zest to the rest of her day knowing that she fixed it so that at least one of the creeps will have to piss and shit in bags for the rest of his life. And she hopes his life is nice and long.

    She says that and sleeps sound at night.

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