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CURRENT ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS RELEASES
SOURCE: Federal Register, December 10, 2008
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
National Park Service & Fish and Wildlife Service
General Regulations for Areas Administered by the National Park
Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rulemaking amends regulations codified in 36 CFR
part 2 and 50 CFR part 27, which pertain to the possession and
transportation of firearms in national park areas and national wildlife
refuges. The final rule updates these regulations to reflect state laws
authorizing the possession of concealed firearms, while leaving
unchanged the existing regulatory provisions that ensure visitor safety
and resource protection such as the prohibitions on poaching and
limitations on hunting and target practice.
DATES: This rule becomes effective on January 9, 2009.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
America's parks and wildlife refuges are an important part of our
shared national heritage, and a source of inspiration and enjoyment for
visitors from around the world. For nearly 100 years, Congress has
vested the Secretary of the Interior with the responsibility for
managing these lands and resources in a manner that ensures their
preservation and seeks to provide for the safety of visitors and
employees. In administering these lands, Congress has enacted various
statutes authorizing the Secretary to work closely with respective
State and local governments in the management of these areas. In the
following decades, the Department has worked closely with its State,
local government and Tribal neighbors, and has adopted regulations in
appropriate circumstances that look to the laws of the state in which
that unit is located. This final rule is intended to extend similar
treatment to non-conflicting state laws pertaining to carrying of
concealed weapons.
Forty-eight States currently authorize law-abiding citizens to
carry concealed firearms. However, existing Federal regulations
governing firearms in national parks and national wildlife refuges,
promulgated before the vast majority of these state laws were in
effect, unnecessarily preclude law-abiding citizens from possessing,
carrying, or transporting a concealed firearm that is otherwise legal
in that state…
The Department agrees … that the regulations should be
amended to reflect developments in state law, particularly
where, as in this case, the deference can be achieved
without impacting the visitors or resources the regulations are
designed to protect. Accordingly, on April 30, 2008, the Department
chose to address this issue proactively through the development of a
proposed regulation, which it published in the Federal Register with a
request for public comment. See 73 FR 23388 (April 30, 2008). The
Department initially provided a sixty-day comment period and
subsequently provided an additional 30-day comment period. The
Department received more than 125,000 comments during the comment
period and thereafter formed a working group to carefully review and
analyze the submissions.
We believe that in managing parks and refuges we should, as
appropriate, make every effort to give the greatest respect to the
democratic judgments of State legislatures with respect to concealed
firearms. As stated in the proposed rule, Federal agencies have a
responsibility to recognize the expertise of the States in this area,
and Federal regulations should be developed and implemented in a manner
that respects ``state prerogatives and authority.'' See Executive Order
13132 of August 10, 1999 (``Federalism''). As explained herein, the
Department believes that this rule more appropriately gives effect to
these federalism concepts as called for in the Executive Order, while
simultaneously maintaining protection of visitors and the values for
which these parks and refuges were established. We discuss these
considerations more fully below.
II. Discussion
A. Summary of the Final Rule
The regulations being amended by this rule are intended by the NPS
and the FWS to protect the natural and cultural resources of park areas
and refuges, and to protect visitors, employees and property within
those lands. In their previous form, these regulations generally
prohibited visitors from possessing an operable and loaded firearm in
areas administered by these bureaus unless the firearm is used for
lawful hunting activities, target practice in areas designated by
special regulations, or other purposes related to the administration of
Federal lands in Alaska. The previous regulations also allowed visitors
to transport firearms through parks and refuges subject to limitations
that generally required the firearm to be unloaded and rendered
inoperable or inaccessible. See 48 FR 30282 (June 30, 1983); 49 FR
18444 (April 30, 1984).
The previous FWS and NPS regulations were last substantively
updated in 1981 and 1983, respectively. The overwhelming majority of
States now provide for the possession of concealed firearms by their
citizens. In many States, the authority to carry loaded and operable
concealed firearms extends to State park and refuge lands, whether
expressly or by operation of law.
1. The Department's Purpose
The Department's intent in adopting this final rule is to better
reflect the decisions of the States in which parks and refuge units are
located to determine who may lawfully possess a firearm within their
borders, while preserving the Federal government's authority to manage
its lands, buildings, and other facilities. Mindful of that objective,
the Department's final rule amends the regulations to allow individuals
to carry concealed, loaded, and operable firearms in Federal park units
and refuges to the extent that they could lawfully do so under non-
conflicting state law. By adopting state law in this manner, this rule
is similar in approach to that already taken by NPS and FWS in various
regulations pertaining to hunting, fishing, motor vehicles and boating.
Additionally, the final rule treats state law in a similar manner to
regulations adopted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the
United States Forest Service (USFS), both of which allow visitors to
carry weapons consistent with applicable Federal and state laws. See 36
CFR 261.8 (a)-(c); 43 CFR 8365.1-7.
Under the final rule, individuals must have actual authority to
possess those loaded and concealed firearms under state law in order to
carry those loaded concealed firearms in Federal park areas and
refuges. This means that the State in which the park or refuge unit is
located must have laws that authorize the individual to possess those
concealed and loaded firearms, and the individual must be so
authorized. Additionally, to the extent that a State's law recognizes
licenses issued by other States, including the applicability of
reciprocity agreements, the final rule would similarly recognize such
reciprocal authorities. Finally, individuals authorized to carry
firearms under this rule will continue to be subject to all other
applicable state and Federal laws. Accordingly, as stated in the
preamble to the proposed rule, this rule does not authorize visitors to
use firearms, or to otherwise possess or carry concealed firearms in
Federal facilities in national parks and wildlife refuges as such
possession is proscribed by 18 U.S.C. 930.
We also note that national park areas and wildlife refuges are
often located in close proximity to state parks or wildlife management
areas, National Forests, or public lands managed by the BLM. Visitors
to these sites may frequently travel through a combination of Federal
and state lands during the course of a trip or vacation. In these
circumstances, the Department believes that adopting for these Federal
lands the applicable state standards for the possession of firearms
will promote uniformity of application and better visitor understanding
and compliance with the requirements.
[Webmaster's comment: see Federal Register for complete announcement]
[To view a statement opposed to the regulation change, see Association of
National Park Rangers]
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