Senate measure would allow loaded guns in national parks

Visitors would be able to carry loaded guns in national parks and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public lands under a provision approved overwhelmingly by the Senate on Tuesday. But final passage of the amendment, which was attached to legislation rewriting some credit card laws to favor consumers, isn't guaranteed. Though it was passed by a 67 to 29 vote, with 27 Democrats, 39 Republicans and one independent voting aye, it could still be stripped from the final bill, which the Senate will continue to consider Wednesday. One Republican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, joined 28 Democrats in voting no. The measure was pushed by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who argued it "makes no sense to treat (gun owners) like a criminal if they pass through a national park while in possession of a firearm." He was trying to override a March ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that overturned a rule implemented by the Bush administration in its final days. In January, a few days before President George W. Bush left office, people were allowed to carry loaded guns into parks and wildlife refuges if they had a permit for a concealed weapon and the state permitted weapons in parks...McClatchy

Lamar Alexander does whatever the Parkies tell him to do.