10. INTERIOR: Obama admin will review firearms rule (Greenwire, 04/20/2009)

Eric Bontrager, E&E reporter

The Interior Department has decided against challenging a court ruling that blocked a Bush administration rule allowing visitors to carry concealed weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges.

In a court filing Friday, Interior said it would comply with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's ruling that blocked the policy change until the Obama administration conducted a full review of the rule's environmental impacts.

The rule -- finalized in the waning days of President George W. Bush's term -- allows visitors to carry concealed firearms into parks and refuges in states whose laws allow such weapons. The rule allows concealed weapons even in states that have outlawed such guns in their own parks.

Kollar-Kotelly stopped the rule last month, siding with anti-gun and conservation groups that argued Interior had failed to conduct an environmental assessment required by the National Environmental Policy Act (Greenwire, March 20).

Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the department will seek a stay to keep the judge from making a final ruling while it conducts its review.

Obama's Justice Department had originally defended the rule in court, arguing that the challenge is unlikely to succeed because the groups have not proved the rule would increase the danger to park visitors or wildlife.

But Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the government's process leading to the decision was "astoundingly flawed," making it unlikely to hold up in the long term.

Opponents of the rule, including the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the filing was a sign the administration would ultimately reject the rule.

"In the short term, it keeps guns out of the parks," Brady Campaign attorney Daniel Vice said. "In the long term, we expect the administration will conclude that guns represent a serious threat to the parks."

The National Rifle Association, which argues that the rule change is essential to clearing up confusion about gun rules in parks, has already filed an appeal of Kollar-Kotelly's ruling, and several members of Congress have introduced legislation aimed at making the gun rule law.

Click here to view the court filing.

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