Is it January 21st yet? – pt 2

New I and the Bird #90 at Jeffrey A Gordon’s blog. It’s a good ‘un.

I didn’t really expect this to be a series, I actually tagged “pt 1″ on the end of the post title last week as kind of a joke. Sort of a tongue in cheek implication that the outgoing Bush Administration was certain to throw out a few more last minute policy changes that were generally not going to be in the interest of citizens of the United States, even if they didn’t have specific ramifications for birders.

But perhaps this one hit me even harder than most, and for that I mean it doesn’t engender the foaming at the mouth response mountaintop removal mining received. I mean, mountaintop removal mining is so ridiculous on its face you can’t help but get worked up, but it’s not an issue I necessarily have to deal with directly.

But this? This receives more of a sad sigh, and the somber realization that things are probably just going to be that much harder from here on out. Because in a sort of odd way, I can see this action affecting wildlife in North Carolina more directly.

You see, the Bush Administration recently overturned a 25 year old rule banning concealed and loaded firearms in National Parklands. Now I know this seems like a silly thing and a handout to the NRA and other gun lobbies, and that’s mostly what it is, but the potential for real problems is high.

A quick disclaimer, I personally have no issue with hunting or even legal gun ownership. It’s a right, but one that can be expressed within limits for the safety of all. Obviously we can restrict gun ownership by the mentally ill or previously incarcerated, and we can limit firearms in public places like schools and government buildings and national parks. That our rights are subject to common sense restrictions isn’t a new idea (fire in a movie theater and all that), and we could certainly go round and round as to the precise definition of “common sense”, but that’s not what this post, or this blog, is about. I only want to point out that I’m somewhat sympathetic to the concerns of responsible gun owners.

I’m worried about allowing concealed and loaded firearms for one primary reason, as is mentioned in the previously linked article:

“While national parks are amongst the safest areas to be in, the toll on the U.S. Park Ranger is high,” said [John] Waterman [president of the Park Ranger Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police]. “U.S. Park Rangers are the most assaulted federal officers in the country. This vague, wide-open regulation will only increase the danger U.S. Park Rangers face.”

Troubling enough right? Here’s the personal connection.

A couple weeks I wrote about a short conversation I had with a seasonal shorebird monitor at Cape Hatteras National Seashore on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. I’ve written often of the contention between the National Park Service and beach-drivers angry at the NPS. What had been for years a simmering feud, exploded this summer when the NPS, acting on the order of a federal judge, closed beaches for about 10 weeks due to nesting endangered shorebirds.

I heard first hand of the daily harassment at the hands of angry anglers, of the veteran park rangers throwing up their hands and transferring elsewhere or leaving for good, unwilling to take the abuse day after day after day. Would you want that?

Now add easily accessible loaded guns into the mix, and I don’t have to spell out how an already volatile situation, amplified by a little alcohol, could quickly become a tragedy. And would it be restricted to park rangers? Birders are already persona non grata among many out there, seen as driving the beach closures. Do I have to worry just by wearing binoculars?

So, I’m worried about this relaxation of restrictions above many others. Because this one threatens to affect me as I do what I love to do on one of my favorite places on earth to do it. One more thing to worry about, right? That seriously sucks.