Washington » President Barack Obama has rolled back eleventh-hour Bush administration rules on oil and gas leases, oil-shale development and offshore drilling, but the new White House hasn't budged on one policy: allowing guns in national parks.
And, given Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's comments Friday, Obama might not reverse that policy any time soon -- if ever.
Salazar, a former Colorado senator and state attorney general, said he is reviewing the decision allowing park patrons to carry loaded and accessible weapons, but quickly pointed out the administration's respect of gun rights.
"I'm a defender of the Second Amendment, and President Obama also has a respect and understanding of the Constitution and particularly the Second Amendment, but we will take a look at the issue with respect to the environmental and public-safety issues that have been raised," Salazar said in a round-table discussion with reporters. "And we will, at the appropriate time, have a decision on that issue."
Three groups are suing to seek an injunction against loaded guns in national parks -- which have been allowed for about two months now.
The previous rule allowed someone to carry an unloaded weapon inside a park as long as it was stowed, a move meant to crack down on wildlife poachers.
Advocates of opening up the parks to loaded weapons maintain the Second Amendment right to bear arms shouldn't end when citizens visit the nation's treasured landscapes.
But critics -- including the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, Association of National Park Rangers and the National Parks Conservation Association -- argue changing the rule allowing loaded guns inside tourist-teeming parks could spawn a more dangerous atmosphere.
The groups say they understand the Obama administration is handcuffed in its ability to immediately toss the Bush-era decision, and they laud the review as a step in the right direction.
"There's a lot of interest in it and … they have to take their time on it; they can't just make swooping decisions on it," said Bryan Faehner, a spokesman for the National Parks Conservation Association. "They have to be careful and this review of environmental considerations is a very good step in the right direction."
Scot McElveen of the Association of National Park Rangers said the fact the Interior Department is doing a review "shows that they have some concern that maybe part of the process didn't follow the law."
And he warned that the groups -- while pursuing an injunction and now awaiting a response from the Interior Department -- won't be silent for long.
"We're not satisfied with the answers that we're getting unofficially yet," McElveen said, "and I will assure you we will get more vocal."
Salazar said the gun issue was not, by a long shot, near the top of his concerns.
"It is one of those issues that distracts the nation and distracts the Department of Interior from the more important agendas."
