A little noticed amendment to the "consumer friendly" credit card reform act passed by the Senate and heading for approval in the House will give a victory to gun right activists they never could have gotten under George Bush.
In recent years, national parks have become havens for crriminals, pot growers, and just plain crazies. Republicans, with some help from Blue Dog Democrats, added a measure to the credit card bill that would allow citizens to conceal and carry guns on national park lands in order to protect themselves.
Carl Hulse of the New York Times has the details:
Mr. Coburn and his allies in both parties say the provision is less about guns than it is states' rights. Under the proposal, people who are otherwise authorized under state law to have firearms would be entitled to have them in national parks and wildlife refuges unless a state law prohibited it. Currently, firearms must be unloaded and secured on those national lands, creating what backers of the bill say is a situation where someone passing through a park with a firearm can be charged with a violation.
"I don't like guns necessarily," Mr. Coburn said. "What I want is those constitutional rights to be protected."
Mr. Coburn has been trying for the past two years to get the measure through Congress. The Bush administration, in its final months, had pushed through a rule change that would have allowed the guns, but in March a federal judge blocked the change. The Obama administration chose not to appeal the decision while a review of potential impacts was made.
The House will vote on the measure today where it faces a very good chance of passing.
This shows that Republicans, despite being badly outnumbered, can stand up for principle and win a victory for an important constitutional right.
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