March 26, 2009
Court Rules Against Guns in Department of Interior Parks
1. We have received information from the National Parks and Conservation Association that a judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of the Interior's regulation regarding the carrying of loaded and concealed weapons in DOI parks (see http://act.npca.org/npca/notice-description.tcl? newsletter_id=13357783).

2. Jim Hannon, Acting Chief, Operations and Regulatory, provided USACE guidance on 12 December 2008 (see below) following DOI's 5 December 2008 announcement that the Department had updated it's regulations to allow individuals to carry concealed, loaded and operable weapons in national parks and wildlife refuges.

3. As stated in the Corps guidance below, the DOI change did not affect application of the Corps Title 36 regulations. Since the original DOI rule change on 5 December 2008 did not apply to the Corps, it is anticipated that this current court action will not affect Corps projects other than reducing public confusion on the carrying of firearms on all federal property.

4. We will keep you posted on any developments of the DOI regulation.

Steve Austin, Natural Resources Manager

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