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News & ArtsMonday, January 2, 2012
Crime / Death Guns Were Banned in Mt. Rainier National Park Before 2010
Posted by Goldy on Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 10:37 AM
An interesting side note to the tragic shooting of a Mt. Rainier park ranger yesterday, is that guns were not permitted in national parks until a National Rifle Association sponsored bill lifted the gun ban in 2010... a bill that had been widely opposed by park rangers and officials nationwide.
Now, I'll freely admit that the suspect being sought—who allegedly fled to the back country after an earlier shooting in Skyway, and then gunned down ranger Margaret Anderson in cold blood—is likely not the kind of person who would have been stopped by the old gun ban. But, for those who paradoxically insist that having more guns in parks makes us all safer... well... at least in this particular instance, clearly not.
And of course, if our gun laws weren't so permissive in general, the earlier shooting that sparked this confrontation, might never have happened. Because, you know, statistically, there is a clear correlation between the availability of firearms, and their illegal use.
Something lawmakers maybe should've thought deeper about before cynically attaching the gun-ban-lifting provisions to credit card reform legislation.
2
Why has slog failed to mention the fact that 2 Gang Members of Color were shot by some other Gang Members of Color in downtown Seattle on Saturday night?
4
What a moronic post. For someone who preaches correlation vs causation on a regular basis, your self-editing standard must have been shut down by your any-reason-to-bash-the-NRA boner.
5
Sure, he's probably not the type to obey gun bans, but it appears he was in the area in the first place to meet with that group showing off their guns. So without the meeting, he wouldn't have been fleeing the scene in the first place.
6
Goldy, are you just stoopid or (more likely) a cynical exploitive prick? Like you, I'm in favor of the National Park gun ban. Like you, I know the ban has near nothing to do with recent events. Unlike you I'm not a freakin' douche who is conflating the two to push my political agenda.
7
@6: Yes, because it's wrong to use a shooting at a national park as a springboard for discussing the wisdom of allowing guns into national parks.
12
Amen, Goldy. Just like Ohio's lifting of the ban on guns in bars probably had nothing to do with this racist-nut-with-a-concealed-carry-permit waving his weapon around threatening murder in a bar, either.
15
Cold. Dead. Hands.
I don't care if crime goes up or down if people have more access to firearms, the state has no business telling law-abiding citizens that they can't defend themselves, either from law-breakers or the state itself.
I don't care if crime goes up or down if people have more access to firearms, the state has no business telling law-abiding citizens that they can't defend themselves, either from law-breakers or the state itself.
20
Yea because some nut who's on the run for attempted murder and shoots federal law enforcement officers is totally going to obey the gun ban in the national park law.
This is an insult to the victims, go to hell goldy.
This is an insult to the victims, go to hell goldy.
22
Goldy, you're a smart guy and you provide a lot of interesting commentary, but this is a moronic post.
23
@5 - The gun show-and-tell you refer to happened in the town of Skyway, not in the national park itself.
24
The fact of the matter is that whether or not the allowance of guns means more people, often innocent, die from gunshots is irrelevent. The right to bare arms is one of our inaliable rights. The saying "Freedom isn't free" comes to mind. There is absolutely a risk involved in the right to bare arms, and it horrible when an innocent person is killed. But a key american principal is that freedom is more valuable than safety. "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Ben Franklin.
How about using this occasion to rally for better access to mental health treatment and/or a greater national resistance to the military industrial complex that creates mentally unstable weapons enthusiasts? Those would actually be relevent to this particular story rather than exploiting a tragedy to push a barely relevent agenda.
How about using this occasion to rally for better access to mental health treatment and/or a greater national resistance to the military industrial complex that creates mentally unstable weapons enthusiasts? Those would actually be relevent to this particular story rather than exploiting a tragedy to push a barely relevent agenda.
26
What happened with this apple had nothing to do with my orange but since it's all fruit I'm going to talk about it anyway. Meanwhile, it's all bananas.
27
The lift of the gun ban in national parks had about as much to do with this as SB 1070 and "heated political rhetoric" did on the shooting of Gabby Giffords.
I've carried guns into national parks before. I didn't shoot anyone.
I've carried guns into national parks before. I didn't shoot anyone.
28
@27: But others have carried guns into national parks and DID shoot people. So if you're trying to prove that people won't shoot others in national parks, you're doing a piss-poor job.
29
@28
I too have carried guns into parks and not shot people so now we got at least a 2 to 1 ratio with APO and I vs. the badly tattooed Douchbag Mcshoots a lot. This proves that the majority of people who have carried guns in national parks did not shoot people.
I too have carried guns into parks and not shot people so now we got at least a 2 to 1 ratio with APO and I vs. the badly tattooed Douchbag Mcshoots a lot. This proves that the majority of people who have carried guns in national parks did not shoot people.
30
@29: If 1/3 of people who carry guns into national parks fatally shoot someone, is that a fraction you want to be proud of?
31
"If you take away their guns, they'll stab each other to death. Take away the knives and they'll pour Drano down each other's throats. Take away the Drano and they'll beat each other to death with spiked dildos."
Look at the UK. They had to invent the word knifecrime for it because stabbings became so common after they banned guns.
If you want to stop murder, you are going to have to ban humans.
Look at the UK. They had to invent the word knifecrime for it because stabbings became so common after they banned guns.
If you want to stop murder, you are going to have to ban humans.
32
Totally agree, @31. There's a reason Cain beating Abel to death with a club is one of the very first stories in a 5,000-year-old book.
33
@31, 32: I'd rather take my chances with a knife or a club rather than a bullet. There's a reason you don't hear about "bystander clubbings" or "stray knife hits".
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