The only way to legally possess a firearm anywhere on National Park land is by having it unloaded and inaccessible, such as locked up in your trunk.

This has created a patchwork of conflicting regulations. For instance, a Virginia resident who is licensed to carry a concealed firearm can legally carry on the Commonwealth’s roadways, but it is illegal to carry on the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a major thoroughfare in Virginia under the jurisdiction of the NPS

In the waning days of his administration, President Bush partially reversed the ban, but even that half-way measure has been single-handedly negated by an activist judge in Washington, D.C. The Department of Interior has decided not to appeal that ruling, thus leaving the gun ban in place.

The Coburn amendment will treat NPS land and Wildlife Refuges in the same manner as BLM land. The amendment will in no way change or override state, local or federal law, but will simply allow these laws -- enacted by legislation, not bureaucrats or judges -- to govern firearms possession.

“Judges and unelected bureaucrats have for far too long made the Second Amendment null and void on these lands. Gun Owners of America applauds Sen. Coburn’s effort to right this wrong,” said Larry Pratt, Executive Director of Gun Owners of America.

The amendment was attached to a bill, H.R. 627, regulating the credit card industry. The House passed its own version of the bill on April 30 by a vote of 357-70.

The House bill does not contain the Coburn language, and is substantially different in other respects. A House and Senate conference committee is expected to iron out the differences between the two bills. President Obama said he wants to sign a bill before Memorial Day.

“GOA will maintain pressure on the conference committee to keep the Coburn amendment in the final bill,” Pratt said.

We realize it sounds like old news.

The Obama administration -- the one that, during the campaign, “was not goin to go after our guns” -- has nominated yet another anti-gun crazy for a high federal post. 

This one is Harold Hongju Koh, a Yale Law Professor nominated to be chief legal guru for Hillary Clinton’s State Department. [Read more]

By John Velleco
Director of Federal Affairs

President Obama is determined to eradicate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens.

In recent meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderón, the American President promised to urge the U.S. Senate to pass an international arms control treaty.

The treaty ... known by the acronym CIFTA, was signed by President Bill Clinton, but never ratified by the Senate.  [Read more]