Will National Park Carry Pass the Bruen Test? - #2A
FPC, SAF, and Texas Gun Owner Sue Over Carry Ban in National Park Facilities
FPC, SAF, and Texas Gun Owner Sue Over Carry Ban in National Park Facilities
(AmmLand) - A Texas gun owner, Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation are taking aim at federal carry restrictions inside America’s national parks, arguing the government cannot keep expanding so-called “sensitive places” without any real historical basis. The new lawsuit challenges the ban on firearms in National Park Service-operated federal facilities and other restricted park areas as unconstitutional under Bruen.
The complaint, Zimmerman v. Bondi, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, by Gary Zimmerman, Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation against U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi in her official capacity. The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, not damages.
At the center of the complaint is 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), the federal law that bars the knowing possession of firearms in a “federal facility,” and 36 C.F.R. § 1.5, a regulation the complaint says is used by park officials to impose park-specific restrictions on where firearms may be carried within national parks. The suit challenges Section 930(a) as applied to National Park Service-operated federal facilities and challenges Section 1.5 to the extent it is used to further limit lawful carry inside national parks.
According to the complaint, Zimmerman is a Fort Worth, Texas resident, an NRA-certified firearms instructor, and a certified…