Guns Banned in Yellowstone Park Restrooms for "National Security" Reasons

 The above sign was reported outside public restrooms in Yellowstone Park, by stephenwright.com.

In 2005-7, intense lobbying by grassroots activists resulted in a move to change National Park Service (NPS) regulations so that state rules for concealed carry permits would apply in the National Parks.   The push for a rule change became strong enough that the NRA became involved.   It appeared that the new rule would go through in the last days of the Bush administration.   But the disarmists in the government pushed the bureaucrats in the National Park Service to keep extending the rule making period.   The second amendment supporters had played by the rules to make the change happen.   All participants understood that the rule would be changed.   Instead, the change was killed just after the 2008 election.

A majority of Senators had pushed for it, and they were not happy.    Shortly after the election of Barack Obama, the majority of Senators, pushed by Senator Coburn, and lobbied by the NRA and others, essentially said, alright, if you want to play, we can play.   Instead of a rule change by the NPS, they pushed an amendment to a credit card bill that Obama wanted.  

The amendment went quite a bit further than the rule change that had originally been lobbied for.   It simply took discretion away from the NPS, and said that state rules applied to carry of firearms in the National Parks.  Not just for concealed carry permit holders, but all state carry rules.  Obama wanted the credit card bill badly.   He signed it, and it became law.   The first rollback of disarmist regulations in National Parks was a big one. 

I recently was reading the Intermountain Region Gun Regulation for the National Park Service.   When the legislation was passed, an oversight was that the law did not roll back a general prohibition on the carry of arms into "federal facilities", which applied to federal offices.  This allowed the NPS to regulate the carry of firearms within federal "facilities" enclosed in National Parks. 

The Park Service has used this oversight to ban the carry of guns in most National Park buildings, including restrooms in Yellowstone!  I was surprised to see the reason given in the Intermountain regulations.    Apparently, your ability to carry a personal firearm into a National Park restroom is considered a matter of national security.   Here is the quote from the IMR NPS pdf.

•     For national security reasons, guns cannot be
carried into federal facilities within national
parks. Notice of this rule will be clearly
displayed outside all federal facilities. If
you are unsure if a park building is a federal
facility, look for a sign or ask a park ranger.

Perhaps with time, the number of "facilities" that ban personal firearms in the parks will decrease.   I doubt that the Senate meant for people with personal pistols to be forced to pee behind a tree.   When President Nixon used the "National Security" all purpose excuse, people laughed.   I think it is far funnier when applied to the National Park Service.     Yes, it sure is a matter of National Security when a person can legally carry their defensive firearm on one side of an unlocked, unsecured restroom door, but not do so legally on the other side!

When unelected bureaucrats dig in their heels, this is the kind of stupidity that results.


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