Changes: Corps of Engineers land may soon become gun friendly

[johndoe3]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/vol ... 6fea585943

Second Amendment scholar, David Kopel, makes the case in a Volokh Conspiracy article in the WAPO that an anti-gun regulation in effect since the Nixon administration may be in the process of being changed (it prohibited any weapons on Army Corps of Engineer land).

You might think that a government unit called the “U.S. Army Corps of Engineers” would mainly perform projects such as building military forts and similar facilities. Yet the Corps of Engineers has acquired jurisdiction over many things that have nothing to do with the military. In particular, “The Corps of Engineers is the nation’s largest provider of water-based outdoor recreation. It administers 422 lake and river projects in 43 states, spanning 12 million acres, encompassing 55,000 miles of shoreline and 4,500 miles of trails, and including 90,000 campsites and 3,400 boat launch ramps. Waters under its control constitute 33 percent of all U.S. freshwater fishing.” (Here is a list of the Corps’ 1,969 recreational facilities.) Thanks to a lawsuit brought by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, the Corps has announced that it is reconsidering the gun ban on its outdoor property.

The Corps allows hunting on some of its land. Except for hunting, possession of a functional firearm is prohibited on Corps land — even a handgun inside one’s own tent.

Due to the lawsuits by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, the Army Corps of Engineers has asked the courts to delay the lawsuits and allow them to enter mediation.

Since the Obama Administration signed a Bill allowing guns in National Parks and Federal Wildlife Areas as a small part of a larger spending Bill, these Federal land areas have to follow State gun laws, and there has been little to no problems in National Parks by those with guns. That evidence is used by the Courts against the Army Corps of Engineers to declare their gun bans unconstitutional (but only in the States so far that were part of the lawsuits, like Idaho).

Summary: the Army Corps of Engineers may be working to change their regulations to mirror the National Parks gun law (guns being allowed on Army Corps of Engineers land, but in accordance with State gun laws, and banned inside Corps buildings and Dams).

We need to push for this regulation change, since it affects millions of people nationwide who use the Army Corps of Engineers land for recreation and who are currently banned from gun carry.

[johndoe3]

Here's what the old regulation (current one in effect says about guns on Army Corps of Engineer land):

The prohibition was adopted in 1973, during the Richard Nixon administration. Nixon – -the only U.S. president ever to resign in order to avoid certain removal from office by the House and Senate — thought “guns are an abomination.” His administration promulgated a variety of anti-gun regulations. The regulation in question states:

(a) The possession of loaded firearms, ammunition, loaded projectile firing devices, bows and arrows, crossbows, or other weapons is prohibited unless: (1) In the possession of a Federal, state or local law enforcement officer; (2) Being used for hunting or fishing as permitted under § 327.8, with devices being unloaded when transported to, from or between hunting and fishing sites; (3) Being used at authorized shooting ranges; or (4) Written permission has been received from the District Commander. (b) Possession of explosives or explosive devices of any kind, including fireworks or other pyrotechnics, is prohibited unless written permission has been received from the District Commander.

36 C.F.R. § 327.13. Note that by banning ammunition, the regulation also forbids the possession of unloaded firearms that could be loaded in an emergency (if sufficient time were available).