imported post
Pace wrote:
Anyone have any idea why? I've never heard this before, is it because it might be the only federal law enforcement officers that deal with the public? I find this hard to believe, but curious
"Opponents say the law ratchets up the potential for violence in parks, where for seven consecutive years rangers have been the most assaulted federal law enforcement officers, according to data compiled by the park service."
I would agree with your assessment. It seems like a loaded statement. It would make perfect sense that park rangers deal with the public, perhaps, more than any other Federal LEA.
Check this page out:
http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/public-lands/national-parks/rangers-killed-on-duty.html
If that site is up-to-date, there was a murdered park ranger in 2002, shot by a smuggler on the U.S. Mexico Border, obviously that murderer didn't care about gun laws in place then.
In 1999, a ranger in Hawaii was murdered with his own gun by a person with a history of mental instability.
In comparison with, say, the FBI, the last FBI agent I could find that was actually shot and killed was Gregory J. Rahoi, who in 2006 suffered his fatal injury in a live fire training exercise. Beyond that, Stanley Ronquest Jr. was mugged and shot in 1992.
Here is an interesting set of statistics <a href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Federal+law+enforcement+officers+killed+and+assaulted.-a0212326944">Federal law enforcement officers killed and assaulted.</a>
Pace wrote:
...and another question.
Don't some of the parks require (if I remember) you to go through a building to actually get into the park?
Some probably do, many do not. In NC, I know Blue Ridge Parkway is exactly that, a parkway, you drive on to it. Great Smokey Mountains, same deal. Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, you can drive on to it. There are other parks but I am sure you don't have to go through a building to get to most of them if any.