CNN report on guns in National Parks

[Searcher451]

This was posted a bit ago on the CNN website. It has the equivalent depth of a thimble of water in a bathtub.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/06/16/dougherty.guns.national.parks.cnn

 

[tacticalmedic]

CNN = Certainly Not News

 

[JWT]

About what you'd expect from CNN. Biased reporting and interviews.

 

[deanadell]

I really liked their list of statistical data on number of visitors verus number of crimes.....:barf:

Why don;t you go ask one of the 35 rape victims they cited what they think about being able to protect yourself in a National Park.

 

[Searcher451]

Here's a bit a help from a poster on The High Road Forum; the feds are taking comments on the issue. Go to this link:

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspubli...00006480624502

Click on the link next to docket; then, when you get to the next page, click the yellow add comments icon in the first line of the table.

No sense letting the opportunity to voice your opinion go knocking.

 

[Webleymkv]

Glen Beck is the only shining beacon of reason in the dark sea of CNN's idiocy and bias. Unless I'm watching him, my TV is never on CNN.

 

[thrgunsmith]

These women brutally raped, tortured, murdered, beheaded

In Yosemite

I wish they had a CHOICE if they wanted to carry a gun or not

 

[azredhawk44]

Searcher:

That's a bad link. Got a fix?

 

[Dave85]

EDIT: azredhawk44, if you type "National Parks" into the box below the "Comment or Submission" tab, it will take you to the right page.
RE-EDIT: Better yet, here is a link to the right page.


I will give CNN this much credit: they gave Wayne LaPierre the last word. That's no small thing in broadcast news, and you don't see it often. It is important to give credit where due, so there it is.

I greatly enjoyed the NP employee who said that this was an attempt on the part of the Bush administration to pander to the NRA. Well, I should hope so. We are 4.3 million people, and when we speak on such matters, I would hope they do listen. Who is she pandering to? A self-deluded photographer and the Sierra Club? All 730,001 of them? The NRA is bigger. This is exactly the type of situation in which that should matter to policymakers.

BTW, on the premise that the NRA, GOA, SAF, and other gun rights organizations can't do all of the water carrying, I submitted a comment using the link supplied here by Searcher451 (thank you!). I suggest you do to if you have not already. I see a lot of responses to online polls that, in the end, effect nothing. This is an opportunity to have your opinion seen by actual decision makers. So put your mouth where your money is, and write them a concise, polite, and compelling comment that should leave them with a positive perception of concealed weapon carriers.

I really want to go backpacking in Pictured Rocks again. This time not during the height of black fly season!

 

[azredhawk44]

Thanks, Dave85.

For others, here's my comment. Feel free to steal/hack/slash/borrow:

I whole-heartedly endorse the ability of citizens to carry firearms for defensive use
in National Park areas.

While animal attacks are few and far between, our system of government has
always had a sacred duty to allow for the self preservation of the individual. While
I do not expect for a park ranger to be present every 50 yards to protect me from
anything toothy and hairy in a park, I do expect to be able to effectively defend
myself from an angered moose, mountain lion or bear.

We need to judge situations by the merits of the case, not by arbitrary rules.
Were a man attacked by an animal and he fended it off with a stick-become-spear,
no charges of "poaching" or reckless use of a firearm would be presented.
However, resurrect the same situation with a firearm as the defensive tool, and you
have several arbitrary and capricious laws that have just been broken.

When used properly, firearms save lives.

Also... 4-legged beasties are not the only threat in the wild. Take, for example,
the 4 young women that have been raped, murdered and beheaded in Yosemite
National Park. This was done by man, the most vicious of predators. 911 is
ineffective in the wild areas of national parks, making self-reliance the only option.

Often times the only force equalizer to create a favorable outcome between a 250
pound rapist and a 125 pound victim is Colonel Colt's invention. To deny this
basic fundamental civil right is nothing short of inhumane.

Please, rescind the restrictions on the carry of firearms in National Parks to the
following standards:
1. Match the outdoors firearms laws of the Park hosting state. For Parks which
sprawl across state lines, use the most restrictive rules of the neighboring state.
2. Restrictions or prohibitions on hunting or target shooting are just fine... Park
visitors didn't opt to come to an impromptu shooting range or to watch a hunting
party. They came to appreciate the wildlife and scenery.
3. Coach your Park Rangers on non-confrontational ways to approach visitors with
firearms; how not to make an issue of it. Visitors with firearms are simply
interested in protecting their lives... part of the same reason that your Rangers are
equipped with firearms as well.

 

[Searcher451]

Sorry for the bum steer on the link, folks. It worked when I first posted it. Some of you have found your way around it. This one also will get you there, though in a more round-about way:

http://www.doi.gov/

CNN is no better, no worse, than the other major networks and news suppliers; all of them have issues, for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons center on deadlines and incompetence, or out-and-out ignorance. Sometimes it just comes down to not knowing what questions to ask, or even not knowing who to ask.