A federal judge has just refused to implement one of the dumber Bush-era regulations permitting people to carry concealed weapons in national parks. Sorry, NRA, you can't shoot a moose defend yourself against an armed mugger while on your annual Yellowstone vacation!
Update: The judge's opinion holds that guns have an environmental impact (duh -- anyone who's watched California condors die from lead poisoning in lead bullets understands this), particularly since (duh again) people who carry loaded guns might, actually, you know, shoot them. The strongly worded opinion accused the (mostly Bush-era) Department of the Interior of using an "astoundingly flawed process," being arbitrary and capricious in doing a drastic about-face, and being equally arbitrary and capricious in failing to consider how many guns might be brought into the parks and their environmental impact. (Hat tip to burrow owl for the opinion.)
Many of the midnight Bush regulations issued between November 2008 and January 2009 were aimed, pun intended, directly at our planet and those who care about it. This particular regulation was ostensibly to "clear up inconsistent rules" among states that allow concealed weapons in state parks and states that don't. However, under intense political pressure from the National Rifle Association and in keeping with the Bush administration's attitude toward environmental regulation, the Bush regulation permitted concealed, loaded weapons in national parks even when the state didn't allow concealed weapons. (As background, since the Reagan days, visitors to national parks have been required to unload their guns.)
The National Park Conservation Association, park rangers, secretaries of the interior, police officers, and indeed anyone with half a brain saw that the Bush regulation was not a good idea. Criminals with guns are rarer than grizzly bears in national parks; indeed, the FBI statistics show 1.65 crimes per 100,000 people per year, making a national park one of the safest places in America. (By comparison, Thousand Oaks, CA, which is generally one of the safest cities in America, reported 68 violent crimes per 125,000 people in 2008.) And, whatever one thinks about hunting grizzly bears on your own ranch, surely we can all agree that hunting them in Yellowstone -- their sanctuary! -- is a dumb idea?
The NPCA filed a lawsuit to block implementation of the Bush regulation. Obama's Department of the Interior opposed it. (Personal note: I was deeply disappointed. However, the DOI seems to be acting much like the AG's office on some of the torture/terrorism legal issues -- the lower level career workers keep with the marching orders until it filters up to the political decision makers.)
Today, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly halted implementation of the rule. On the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, she appears to have a very mixed record: Clinton appointee who ruled that Bush didn't have to release his emails. At least she did the right thing on this one.
Further update: I apologize to all the parks I have slighted! You are all extraordinary special places! To your fans, please watch my Tuesday evening diary series, which is going to evolve into adventures in fitness outdoors, with a particular focus on national parks.