Tulsa World: Coalition calls on House leaders to kill Coburn's gun amendment

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Coalition calls on House leaders to kill Coburn's gun amendment

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.

By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau
Published: 5/19/2009 6:34 AM
Last Modified: 5/19/2009 5:41 PM

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of House Democrats, retired rangers and supporters of national parks called on House leaders Tuesday to kill a Senate-passed amendment by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to allow loaded guns in national parks.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, conceded the group faced an uphill battle.

That did not stop Grijalva and other members of the coalition from describing the Coburn amendment and its consequences in stark terms.

Grijalva warned the Coburn provision would be dangerous and accused the senator of hijacking a popular credit card measure for no other reason but to score political points.

He dismissed Coburn’s claims his language was about protecting Americans’ Second Amendment rights, adding the regulations that barred loaded guns from parks have been in place for decades and never drew a constitutional challenge.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., called on Americans to speak out on such issues. If they do not, McCarthy said, other places now off limits to loaded weapons such as schools will be covered by the next change.

McCarthy ran for Congress after her husband was killed and her son injured in 1993 by a gunman on a commuter train in New York.

Theresa Pierno, executive vice president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said the Coburn language, if allowed to become law, would overturn a “reasonable Reagan-era’’ regulation that has allowed park visitors to have

guns as long as they are unloaded and stowed away.

Under the Coburn language, Pierno said, park visitors would be allowed to attend ranger-led hikes and campfire programs while carrying loaded shotguns, rifles and semi-automatic weapons.

Those parks include Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon, as well as former battlefields such as Gettysburg, she said.

Coburn did not respond to a request for comment.

His amendment was attached to the credit card legislation last week.

It would allow those who live in states that do not bar such activity to carry loaded guns into national parks.

Although one of the reasons Coburn cited for changing the current regulations pertained to visitors’ need to defend themselves against criminals and even rabid animals, his language does not allow the legal discharge of firearms in parks.

With final Senate passage of the credit card legislation coming Tuesday, the issue now goes back to the House.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said the House is expected schedule two votes, one on the bill itself and a second on the Coburn amendment.

Then the bill would be sent on to the White House for President Obama’s signature. Grijalva said those votes could come later this week.

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Reader comments for this story have been moved to the most updated version of the story, now under the headline "Coburn's gun bill assailed," which was published on 5/20/2009. So far, 39 comments have been made.