Safety in Our National Parks
It is
true, an absolute necessity. We need
concealed
weapons in our national parks, Taurus revolvers
with
their long and distinguished history. Or
Uzis,
courtesy of the IDF. AK-47s, Kalashnikov’s gift
to the
free world. We must protect ourselves
against
ancient redwood trees, Trumpeter Swans,
Sandhill
Cranes and eagles, anonymous killer
moths,
groundhogs. Against geysers, waterfalls, caldera,
spiders,
sagebrush, glacial lakes and fossils, elk and coyote,
Bighorn
Sheep. Thus we carry armloads of
supplies,
multiple
cartridges, loaded magazines, backpacks.
How
grateful we are to our legislators for making
this
possible. We must be armed in the event the sun
fixes
its hot glance on us, or an errant star appears
in the
night sky like some infrared searchlight.
It is
not possible to be too careful in the national park.
(U.S. national parks open to holders of
concealed firearms, February 22, 2010)
Myra Sklarew attended Tufts
University and the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins, and studied bacterial
viruses and genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Biological Institute. She conducted
research on memory and prefrontal lobe function at Yale University School of
Medicine. Her books include collections of poetry, short prose, essays and the
forthcoming, A Survivor Named Trauma.
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