SEATTLE - Mount Rainier, the North Cascades and Olympic National Parks are breathtaking, and they belong to us. They are an American ideal, providing protected land to its citizens.
Just as American is the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, and now it will be perfectly legal to combine the two.
For years, federal law at National Parks allowed people to bring in unloaded weapons as long as they were stowed away. But starting Monday, that will change. Now anyone with a legal permit can bring in a loaded gun, concealed or otherwise, as long as it concurs with state laws.
Sean Smith, policy director for the National Parks Conservation Association, is deeply concerned about the effect this will have on parks and how it will even be enforced.
"The parks are one of the safest places in America, the amount of crime is almost unheard of in National Parks," said Smith.
Dave Workman, Senior Editor of Gun Week, says it's just a matter of education.
"What people need to understand is that they are not going to be confronted by herds of armed people running down the trails. This is not a gathering of some militia. This is just an opening of a civil right inside the National Parks," said Workman.
Hikers we talked to had mixed reactions.
"I don't understand why they think they need them," said Sue Hoffman.
"I'm not sure that it's going to bother me all that much," said Donna Lamb. "I think in most cases you're not going to even notice someone even has a gun."
The new federal law will have no effect on existing laws and regulations that are already in effect in National Parks that means hunting is still not allowed and guns are already banned from federal facilities like visitor centers.
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