House May Decide Fate of Concealed Guns in U.S. Parks

The credit card bill heading to the House of Representatives includes a rider that could help settle whether concealed weapons will be permitted in national parks -- a question whose answer has shifted from no to yes to maybe in the last six months

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sponsored the amendment, which would allow any park visitor to bring in loaded weapons if the weapons would be legal in the rest of that state. Coburn, in a written statement, said he wanted visitors to be able to defend themselves against crime. The Senate approved the measure last week 67 to 29.

A spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the House was likely to vote on Coburn's amendment separately from the rest of the Senate bill. If the amendment is defeated, Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said, it will be struck from the version of the credit card bill sent to President Obama.

Starting in the 1980s, park visitors were allowed to bring in their guns only if they were dismantled, or unloaded and stored in a car trunk. In January, the Bush administration changed the rule, allowing licensed gun owners to bring in weapons.

That rule was struck down in March by a U.S. District Court judge, who ruled that the Interior Department had not completed a required environmental impact study for the proposal.

An Interior Department spokeswoman said yesterday that the old no-guns policy remains in effect while it completes that study, which could take months or years. She declined to comment on the Coburn proposal, citing pending litigation.

-- David A. Fahrenthold