Dispute over guns threatens Senate vote [View All]

[Jack_DeLeon]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - An election-year dispute over whether to allow loaded guns in national parks is holding up a vote on a massive bill affecting public lands from coast to coast.

Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to score political points by injecting a "wedge" issue like gun rights into a noncontroversial bill.

Republicans counter that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to protect the two leading Democratic candidates for president by shielding them from a politically difficult vote on an issue that many rural voters consider crucial.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the leading Republican contender for president, is a co-sponsor of the amendment, which would allow gun owners to carry loaded, accessible firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges. Current regulations ban gun owners from carrying easy-to-reach firearms onto lands managed by the National Park Service and Fish and Wildlife Service.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080216/ap_on_go_co/guns_national_parks

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The laws need to be changed. I have a concealed handgun license in Texas, and I like visiting places like Big Bend National Park, I would like to be able to legally carry my handgun when I'm there camping with my friends and family.

If not a change to allow concealed carry in all national parks, it should atleast be changed to allow it for parks that are withing the borders of states that allow for it, so that way it is atleast up to the states.