Oregon Public Broadcasting

On Wednesday, the Bush Administration will try to overturn a 25-year-old ban on concealed weapons in National Parks.

The rule change would take effect before the next administration takes over, meaning a long, hard road to change the rules back. Ethan Lindsey reports.

The National Parks Conservation Association says it anticipated this last-minute rule change.

And the nonprofit sees two avenues to fight it. One would be convincing the Obama administration to reverse the rule change, but that process could take a year.

Sean Smith with the National Parks Conservation Association says a lawsuit is the other possibility.

Sean Smith: “The current administration’s proposal took less than a year, and that’s one of the legal issues we’re going to raise with the court, and so one way we can challenge is to say the propoer environmental procedures were not followed."

Kevin Starrett is the executive director of Oregon Firearms Federation.

Kevin Starrett: “What our hope is, is that the rule will stay in place long enough that even national parks are like every other place in the country."

The new rule would extend a state’s concealed weapons permit to federal parks within state boundaries. For instance, a concealed weapons permit in Oregon would apply to Crater Lake.