A friend relayed to me an interesting piece of news he had heard this morning on NPR. (I’ve done some searching, but I can’t confirm it) That the park rangers at Mount Rushmore were being armed with M16’s to defend the park (in case of terrorists). Isn’t that North Dakota? Its just a bunch of rock for god’s sake. I can just imagine a couple of rangers getting bored and shooting rabbits with these guns. Jumpin’ Jesus! This is like giving gasoline to pyros.
Mount Rushmore is in South Dakota.
I’m not sure why you think arming park rangers is like “giving gasoline to pyros”. Are you basing this on anything at all? Have you ever even met a park ranger. I suspect not.
It’s a symbolic monument. Therefore it’s destruction would likely effect at least some people. Imagine if the lincoln monument or washington monument was bombed.
The only General Question I see here is “Isn’t that North Dakota?”.
The answer is “No”. Mount Rushmore is located in South Dakota.
you folks are all so wonderful.
I have met park rangers, most are very peaceful folk.
thanks for the correct state.
I find the topic humorous.
I guess I just missed the whole f***ing point.
**There’s also, “Is it true the Park Rangers at Mt. Rushmore were patrolling with M-16s”?
Answer–No. It was shotguns, not M-16s.
Since I’m ignorant of the usual operations of weigh stations, I’ll ask: what is the benefit of having them open all night?
Ohio weigh stations… open all night. Were ALL Ohio weigh stations open all night, or just those Ohio weight stations that WERE open?
I’m asking, because it’s my experience that only maybe 1/3rd of Ohio weigh stations are open at any given time. Does Ohio actually have warm, armed, trained bodies to operate all of its weight stations?
The OP seems to be under the impression that people living in rural areas don’t usually have access to guns. I’m not sure where this idea comes from; most adult males (and many non-adults and non-males) in rural areas already own a rifle, just as private citizens. If there’s not a problem with rabbit-shooting now, why would there be one with M16s?
Here’s a link to the NPR story the OP is referring to:
http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/segment.jhtml?wfId=1196182
For the record, they did report that the park rangers at Mt. Rushmore are carrying M-16s.
I guess so. It is a National Monument after all.
also, it’s quite a popular place to visit. It’s the only rural National Monument I know of that has a parking garage…a huge parking garage in fact. As others in this thread have pointed out, it would make a good target for evildoers.
Thank you Skammer.
Chronos I grew up in rural southern Illinois. everybody had guns, I just never saw automatic weapons at the “national monuments”
Its not just a pile of rock either, its actually a relatively delicate sculpture. Plus, about 9PM during turist season the evening “show” can easily attract a crowd of 10,000 nightly.
When weigh stations are open all trucks are required to stop and be weighed and inspected, if deemed necessary. This would enable authorities to eyeball trucks (the most likely carriers of bombs) for suspicious and shady characters and cargo.
Since nobody else mentioned it (unless I missed it above): Park Rangers are law enforcement.
Incidentally, this is really all that much of a development. I live and work in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area across the bay from San Francisco, and the Park Rangers here have been carrying M16s or some similar automatic rifle in their cars at least since September. The rangers say that since it may take a while for backup to reach them, they have to carry as much firepower as they could need in the worst case.
BTW, the armed park rangers are law enforcement rangers, who are at least as well-trained as your average city cop. Don’t confuse them with interpretive rangers, who are the ones whose job is to explain and describe the park to the public. Two different jobs; different training; very similar job titles.
I know you were just trying to be funny, but this a common perception problem that rangers have. To follow up what wevets said, the rangers you see with guns are professional, trained law enforement officers. One of my coworkers’ son is a ranger in Grand Teton National Park and has so far been through complete law enforcement training, weapons training, EMT training, survival, and search and rescue training.
One could argue that they need to be better prepared and trained than a city cop because they usually work alone in isolated areas with no backup. And the national parks are not the safe places they used to be. Drug trafficing, property crimes, and assults have been on the rise in recent years and it is up to rangers to police large regions of rugged wilderness (in the case of Teton, Yellowstone, etc.) by themsleves, and with little idea of who they could run into out there.
thanks for the insight Bottle of Smoke. when I first heard about this, it just struck me as really funny. I was getting all these Red Green scenes flashing across the synapses.
I agree that the park rangers need to be prepared for anything and everything.
I hope there will be a minimal number of situations arise that neccesitate the use of the M16’s. pitty the fool that litters.
Great information there, wevets. Thank you.