A reader sends me this, and asks “Am I dreaming?”:
The Obama administration is legally defending a last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush that allows concealed firearms in national parks, even as it is internally reviewing whether the measure meets environmental muster.
In a response Friday to a lawsuit by gun-control and environmental groups, the Justice Department sought to block a preliminary injunction of the controversial rule. The regulation, which took effect Jan. 9, allows visitors to bring concealed, loaded guns into national parks and wildlife refuges; for more than two decades they were allowed in such areas only if they were unloaded or stored and dismantled.
No, not dreaming, but this hardly indicates a major turnaround in President Obama’s position on gun control. The legal grounds on which this rule is being attacked are extraordinarily flimsy; they are claiming that the environmental impact assessment was inadequate. Everyone knows that this is not about the environment, it’s about gun control. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Administration eventually reverses the rule, but it’s going to want a non-preposterous basis for doing so.
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