Ammunition?

That’s right. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne Wednesday proposed a rule change that would allow visitors to federal refuges and national parks to carry concealed weapons if they have the proper permits and if the respective state allows weapons in its state parks by people with permits, as Washington does. (See www.doi.gov.) But national parks, of which we have three (Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades) and refuges have been mostly off limits to weapons.

At minimum, this will create all kinds of bureaucratic burdens and confusion and fear among park and refuge visitors. At worst, and probably inevitably, it will lead to occasional shooting incidents and injuries or deaths to people and  to animals, plus armed vandalism to road signs and buildings.

A group that knows about safety in national parks is the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. This week it issued a statement saying the proposed rule change is “manufactured and driven politically to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. …(The new rule) is likely to alter, over time, the friendly atmosphere visitors look forward to in parks. … How many visitors want to be concerned about whether the person (who) shares a backcountry campsite has a concealed, loaded gun?”

Joan Jewett, Portland-based spokeswoman for federal refuges in the Northwest, said the impetus for the new rule was to make federal parks and refuges consistent with the rules in their respective states and thus reduce confusion by the public.

We’d put up with a little inconsistency in return for peace of mind, and peace and quiet.