On April 17, 25 House Republicans wrote a joint letter to Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll, to request that the U.S. Army end its gun ban on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-managed land.
The letter explains the complex and interwoven network of federally-managed lands visited by millions of Americans every year who “frequently cross multiple times from one agency’s domain to another, unbeknownst to them.”
In this context, the letter notes the numerous failed attempts to remove the federal ban specifically on USACE land and harmonize firearms laws with state requirements, as other arms of the federal government have done.
The ban affects 11.7 million acres of USACE-managed property, including 400 lake and river projects, 90,000 campsites, and 4,000 miles of trails, where individuals enjoy outdoor recreational activities, but are “unable to lawfully carry a firearm for self-defense purposes.”
The 25 signatories request that the Secretary “resolve the regulatory inconsistency that has left USACE-managed lands as an outlier among federal agencies,” by responding to the letter to answer the following two questions within 30 days:
- What is the current status of the proposed rule COE-2018-0008? Has the Department of the Army officially withdrawn this rulemaking, or does it remain on the unified regulatory agenda for future finalization?
- Given that the USACE is the only major federal land management agency that still maintains a general prohibition on the lawful carry of firearms, does the department consider regulatory alignment with the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management to be a priority?
