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| Dunn |
The Blue Ridge Parkway contains many things.
There are birds, blueberries and Berettas; azaleas, amphibians and semi-automatic weapons; pine trees, Peregrine Falcons and pistols.
The Mountain Myrtle mixes with machine guns.
Black bears toy with Bauer handguns.
Hold on, does something seem out of place?
Despite seeming odd and incompatible, firearms will now be a feature of the Parkway.
As part of a new federal law signed by President Obama in May, legal gun owners can now carry firearms in national park areas.
The 469-mile Parkway, which is federal property, began allowing firearms on its land Monday.  Cartoon by Kyle Commerford | The Appalachian. Because the law is not implementing a single nationwide ordinance, those who choose to carry a firearm on Parkway lands must cooperate with the state or local firearm laws of which they are residing in.
North Carolina is a concealed carry state, so most, if not all, areas of the Parkway within the state will require concealed carry permits from those who carry firearms.
Firearms will still be prohibited from all federal facilities along the Parkway, including visitor centers, offices and maintenance buildings and game hunting is still strictly illegal.
Let me get this straight.
Firearms are allowed on Parkway lands, but they must be concealed, kept from all federal facilities and not used for hunting.
When looked at like this, the law seems pretty pointless and unnecessary.
The point of the Parkway is to preserve nature and view it with minimal interruption from foreign objects.
Introducing firearms to the area only increases the risk of native species being interfered with, or possibly harmed.
Steve Stinnett, chief ranger for the Parkway, said there will not be significant problems as long as people are responsible.
“As long as everybody’s reasonable, everything works out,” Stinnett said in a Roanoke Times article.
Though Stinnett’s trustful reasoning sounds nice, there will certainly be those who abuse this law and cause problems that could be prevented if the firearms remained prohibited from the Parkway altogether.
And because there is no one set law, the regional differences in law along the Parkway will only add to the possibility of the law’s abuse.
The nature-rich and scenic Parkway in no way warrants the carrying of firearms, and is better off not having them at all.
Dunn, a junior journalism major from Raleigh, is a news reporter.
Cartoon: Kyle Commerford, Intern Editorial Cartoonist
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