Want Loaded Guns in National Parks?--Senator Tom Coburn's Your Man!

I guess I don't know who Sugarmann is [UPDATE: Yes I do, but I had just assumed this was some random loon over at Huffington], but he's made my "Anything he really, really hates is probably a good thing" list.

Under the Coburn Amendment, state law would supercede the current federal regulations. So, if you have a concealed carry license that's valid in the state(s) the national park you're visiting is located, go ahead, load up that handgun and carry it around your campsite, over to Old Faithful, back to the general store for a six-pack of beer, and then back to your tent. If state law allows you to hang an AK-47 off your truck's gun rack, and then march with the loaded assault rifle along a backwoods trail to say "hi" to the bird watchers and flower gazers, all the better.

Sounding a bit on edge, there.

He points out a letter sent to the US Senate by the U.S. Park Rangers Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, and the Association of National Park Rangers opposing the amendment, ending with

In a lesson in understatement, the letter adds, "Moreover, wildlife will not remain easily viewable when it is being shot at."

Nice. No sensationalism there, guys.

The implication is that law-abiding gun owners carrying legal guns in a legal manner are much more likely to take potshots at wildlife than law-breaking gun owners carrying illegal guns illegally are.

Riiiight.