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The United States Supreme Court recently issued a historic decision in the case of Washington, D.C. v. Heller, where the 5-4 majority reiterated what we in Montana have always known: the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms.

This decision is important for America not just because it allows citizens to keep loaded and ready firearms in their homes to protect their families. It is also important because it gives us an opportunity to re-examine other gun restrictions beyond the home and ask whether they pass the common-sense or the constitutional test.

One such rule that I urge all Montanans to examine and comment on is the National Park Service’s proposed rule change regarding the use, transport and possession of firearms in national parks. Currently, and for many years, it has been illegal to transport an assembled, accessible firearm through a national park, such as Glacier or Yellowstone. This means a visitor to the park had to take apart his or her firearm, stow it in a trunk, or lock it, simply to drive through the park or to camp and enjoy the outdoors.

Thankfully, due to pressure from Congress, the National Park Service realized it was time for a change and has now proposed a new rule that would loosen these restrictions. But the rule it proposes to adopt is still too restrictive n it allows a citizen to carry and possess a loaded and accessible firearm in a park only with a concealed weapons permit.

Montana laws regarding carrying firearms are much less restrictive, and I believe they provide a good template for the national parks to follow. In Montana, a person carrying a concealed firearm who is outside of a city or town, or outside the confines of a logging or other camp, is not required to have a concealed weapons permit if he or she is “lawfully engaged in hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, backpacking, farming, ranching or other outdoor activity in which weapons are often carried for recreation or protection” (Montana Code Annotated). In other words, if I am out hiking in the woods and I put on an outer coat over my pistol because of the cold, I am not required to have a concealed weapons permit. It is common sense.

Under Montana law, I could travel down a highway with a loaded and accessible firearm in my vehicle, because a weapon stowed in a vehicle is not considered concealed. This rule applies even in Montana state parks.

The National Park Service’s stated goal is to establish regulation no more restrictive than state parks in the state contiguous to the national park. To promulgate a rule that is more restrictive than Montana’s state park rules is a diversion from this goal.

The deadline for Montanans to comment has been extended to Aug. 8, so time is short to affect the outcome. I have already submitted a comment on the rule, and I have urged the current Montana attorney general to do the same. Our attorney general’s comment is important in order to preserve Montana’s right to continue to be involved in this case at the administrative appeal level and, if needed, to seek judicial review of the final rule.

So I ask all Montanans who care about our right to keep and bear arms, please get involved in this decision. Submit your comment to the Department of Interior, National Parks Service, telling them to adopt the Montana rule, which allows citizens to transport and possess firearms in the Park in a common-sense manner. To do so, read the proposed rule available in the Federal Register at: 73 Fed. Reg. 23388 (Apr. 30, 2008), and then submit your comment online at www.regulations.gov. Be sure to reference the following rule number: RIN 1024-AD70.

Finally, contact Attorney General Mike McGrath and urge him to also contact the Department of Interior to submit a comment on behalf of Montana stating the proposed rule is too restrictive. This is our opportunity to present a common sense revision that is more in line with the common sense laws in Montana.

Tim Fox is the Republican candidate for attorney general. He is also a life member of the National Rifle Association and an avid outdoorsman. He writes from Helena.

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