Senate votes to allow licensed handgun carry in national parks

[Brittain33]

"To protect innocent Americans from violent crime in national parks and refuges."

Armed robbery is a problem.

[Nym90]

Carrying a gun in the woods is often prudent (though from a self-defense perspective, certainly far less necessary than most city-dwellers would think). I'm struggling to come up with a scenario where a handgun would be the optimal weapon to have, however.

[Nym90]

Happily I shall never go to a 'National Park'.

You have been to one if you've ever been to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial).

And any person who can't appreciate the splendor of the National Parks is a sad individual indeed. I hope to one day visit every one in the entire system.

[dead0man]

Carrying a gun in the woods is often prudent (though from a self-defense perspective, certainly far less necessary than most city-dwellers would think). I'm struggling to come up with a scenario where a handgun would be the optimal weapon to have, however.

Lighter, easier to access quickly.

[Torie]

I think I would want to carry a gun on that plateau in Yellowstone that has few trees and lots of Grizzlies. (One of my law school classmates was literally eaten by a Grizzly, albeit that was in Alaska. He was dragged out of his tent and consumed.) That is a somewhat dangerous combo. Other than that, what is the justification if you can't use the guns? Maybe one was posited above, by someone who is a more creative thinker than I.

[cinyc]

I think I would want to carry a gun on that plateau in Yellowstone that has few trees and lots of Grizzlies. (One of my law school classmates was literally eaten by a Grizzly, albeit that was in Alaska. He was dragged out of his tent and consumed.) That is a somewhat dangerous combo. Other than that, what is the justification if you can't use the guns? Maybe one was posited above, by someone who is a more creative thinker than I.

That's the main reason - to protect yourself in the backwoods from dangerous critters, some of which may be smaller than a grizzly bear.  But there are also some national parks and monuments in marginally safe urban areas and on the border, where you might run into dangerous critters of the human kind.  Smugglers are a problem in places like Big Bend and Organ Pipe Cactus NM.

[opebo]

Happily I shall never go to a 'National Park'.

You have been to one if you've ever been to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial).

And any person who can't appreciate the splendor of the National Parks is a sad individual indeed. I hope to one day visit every one in the entire system.

Yeah I've ridden that cheezy little train up into the arch.  The arch is kind of funny - a monument to the 60s and the excess exuberance of american liberalism, like the space program.  All destroyed since by traditional thuggery.

Anyway I didn't say I've never been to a national park, just that I'll never go to one.  In the future.

[opebo]

(One of my law school classmates was literally eaten by a Grizzly, albeit that was in Alaska. He was dragged out of his tent and consumed.)

Wow, dramatic.  A good reason to do your holiday-making at Patpong, rather than in some sh**tty wilderness.  In the dens of which I'm thinking, you'll be consumed, but it will be mighty harmless.

[Torie]

(One of my law school classmates was literally eaten by a Grizzly, albeit that was in Alaska. He was dragged out of his tent and consumed.)

Wow, dramatic.  A good reason to do your holiday-making at Patpong, rather than in some sh**tty wilderness.  In the dens of which I'm thinking, you'll be consumed, but it will be mighty harmless.

I think you may be "on" to something Opebo. 

[Landslide Lyndon]

(One of my law school classmates was literally eaten by a Grizzly, albeit that was in Alaska. He was dragged out of his tent and consumed.)

Wow, dramatic.  A good reason to do your holiday-making at Patpong, rather than in some sh**tty wilderness.  In the dens of which I'm thinking, you'll be consumed, but it will be mighty harmless.

I think you may be "on" to something Opebo. 

Insert (in)appropriate Mark Foley joke.