New gun rule for national parks delayed to February

WASHINGTON -- Not so fast, gun owners. A new law allowing loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges will not take effect until next year, the Obama administration said Friday.

President Obama signed the gun law without comment Friday as part of a measure creating new rules for the credit card industry.

A spokeswoman for the Interior Department said that because the credit card law won't take effect until nine months after it is signed, the gun measure also will be delayed.

Spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the Interior Department will follow Congress's directive and put the new firearms law into effect in late February 2010.

Until then, rules adopted under the Reagan administration will remain in place. The rules severely restrict guns in the national parks, generally requiring that guns be locked or stored in a glove compartment or trunk.

"As Interior prepares to implement the new law, the department will work to understand and interpret its implications for our national parks and wildlife refuges, with public safety and the safety of our employees as our foremost consideration," Barkoff said. "For the time being, the current Reagan administration regulations governing possession of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges remain in place."

The Interior Department's decision drew immediate criticism from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., the chief sponsor of the gun measure.

Spokesman John Hart said Coburn will offer the gun amendment to other bills in order to implement the decision as quickly as possible.

Hart said Coburn was confident the amendment would be approved again, noting that the measure received support from 27 Democrats in the Senate, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The measure, adopted by wide margins in the House and Senate, allows licensed gun owners to bring firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges as long as they are allowed by state law.

Hart said Congress clearly intended for the law to take effect soon, adding that Coburn was disappointed the law apparently will not be in place this summer, when national parks are most crowded.

Bryan Faehner, associate director of the National Parks Conservation Association, applauded the Interior Department's decision.

"We are pleased, because that provides more time that our parks will remain safe and free from shotguns, rifles and semiautomatic weapons," Faehner said.

"We hope that the American public and members of Congress will have more time to understand the far-reaching repercussions of this outrageous and disturbing law that has nothing to do with credit cards and will only put park visitors at risk," Faehner said.

Faehner called national parks among the safest places in the country. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, there were 1.65 violent crimes per 100,000 national park visitors in 2006, far below the national average for violent crime.

Coburn countered that parks are not crime-free and that the law would help law-abiding people fight human and animal threats.

The vote allowing guns in parks was a bitter disappointment for gun-control proponents, who watched as a Democratic-controlled Congress handed a victory to gun-rights advocates that they did not achieve under Republican rule. Democratic opponents blamed the National Rifle Association, which pushed hard for the gun law.

Republicans said gun owners simply want to exercise their Second Amendment rights. The GOP called the current policy confusing to those who visit public lands, noting that merely traveling from state-owned parks to national parks meant some visitors were violating the law.

Obama did not mention the guns provision during a signing ceremony for the credit card bill. A White House spokeswoman referred questions to the Interior Department.