[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 26 (Thursday, February 16, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E218]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF THE GUNS-FREE NATIONAL PARKS ACT OF 2012

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 16, 2012

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a firearms bill 
that will restore a common-sense rule in our national parks. Hundreds 
of millions of people from across the country and abroad have visited 
our world-famous national parks. Before 2009, visitors could enjoy our 
national parks knowing that they were free of loaded guns, thanks to a 
common-sense policy providing that guns were not to be brought into 
national parks unless they were unloaded and safely stored.
  In fact, this common-sense regulation was enacted by the Reagan 
Administration. But in 2009, Congress passed the Coburn Amendment, 
allowing people to carry concealed loaded weapons into national parks 
if it is permissible under state law--and many states allow just that. 
I believe that the 2009 Coburn Amendment was a huge step in the wrong 
direction. That is why I am introducing the Guns-Free National Parks 
Act of 2012--to repeal it.
  I have always believed that loaded weapons have absolutely no place 
in our national parks, which are natural sanctuaries and some of the 
last sacred spaces in our country. Last month Margaret Anderson, a park 
ranger in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, executed a routine 
traffic stop in an effort to ensure that a driver was driving safely. 
The mentally unstable driver then shot and killed the park ranger. This 
brave public servant was a wife and mother of two young children. My 
heart goes out to her grieving family. We have too many guns in 
American society, and too many needless gun-related deaths. As 
Americans we rightly pride ourselves on the progress we have made over 
the decades in science, in civil liberties, and our standard of living 
in general. But rolling back sensible and appropriate public-safety 
rules is not progress. I am proud that this bill is endorsed by several 
well respected national and state-level groups that have worked for 
years on ending gun violence: The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun 
Violence, Ceasefire Washington, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and 
the Violence Policy Center.

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