No Effing Way

Here I am back again, thanks to the generosity of two sets of proud grandparents and the wonder of the human infant’s full-tummy induced coma.

While I haven’t been birding as often as I had in the past, my eye has been tuned to the media for news that would affect birds and birders in time to find a bit of unsettling news that I thought we had put to bed.

In the days leading up to Obama’s inauguration I wrote about a particularly egregious effort by the Bush Administration to overturn a long-standing ban on concealed and loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. It was, at the time, a non-issue, a blatant handout to the National Rifle Association, an organization that cares less about the rights of gun-owners than it does about the rights of gun manufacturers to avoid sensible regulation of their industry.

Thankfully, that provision was struck in the opening days of the new administration, but not for long it seems. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma attached as a rider in a crucial piece of financial legislation, a line overturning that ban. So it’s back on, and unless Obama is willing to veto a bill that represents a central tenant of his economic recovery plan, looks to stay that way. Though thankfully, it doesn’t go into effect until next February.

That won’t stop Coburn, however, who intends to offer the gun amendment to other bills in order to implement the decision as quickly as possible. It remains to be seen how it plays out.

But let’s, for now, put aside the fact that National Parks are among the safest places in the United States. Put aside the fact that those who opposed Obama in the election last year were defined by their near constant whining about riders in legislation and special interests. Put aside the hypocrasy inplicit in the whiplash inducing about-face, the sheer chutzpah needed to scream about clean bills until their throats are sore a few months ago and then turn around to add a special interest rider to a completely unrelated piece of legislation, and think about the park rangers. From the post a few months ago…