Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and gun control groups are concerned that some visitors attending President-elect Obama’s inauguration may try to pack heat because of a rule allowing concealed weapons in national parks.

The Bush administration recently altered federal regulations to allow people with permits to carry concealed firearms while in national parks if the park falls within a state or district that allows concealed weapons.

“It is truly frightening to think of what this could mean coming just a couple of weeks before the inauguration,” said Norton, who has long supported strict gun laws in D.C.

Larry Pratt, executive director for the pro-gun rights Gun Owners of America, said Norton’s fears are misguided.

“People know enough to check on what the rules are,” Pratt said. “It’s not been a problem in the past and I can’t imagine why all of a sudden it’s going to be a problem on that particular day. It may be a problem for people who don’t like guns, but they have that problem every day.”

Pratt supports a concealed carry law for D.C., and said the crime rate would go down if it were allowed. It’s “immoral” to deprive residents of guns, he said.

Gun owners have been touchy since Obama’s election. In the time since his victory, gun stores along the East Coast have seen sales double, and in some cases triple, apparently out of a fear that Obama will curb gun ownership laws as one of his first acts as president.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is pushing for Obama to reverse the Bush administration’s decision on concealed weapons in national parks, and is in talks with Obama’s transition team. If Obama overturned the rule, it would start an early political fight over the contentious issue of guns.

The Interior Department changed the rule, which had prevented visitors from bringing concealed weapons to national parks for 25 years, because it wanted to defer to the state and district laws, as it has done with fishing regulations, according to Chris Paolino, spokesman for the Interior Department.

A spokesman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) downplayed any chance that the rule change will lead visitors to bring guns to the inauguration.

“It’s been made very, very clear that just as in every other public event held on the Mall, that firearms, as well as alcohol or fireworks are strictly prohibited,” said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for the PIC. 

“On top of that, the tremendous security presence, as well as the expectation for everyone who comes to the Mall to have some level of security screening, I think is going to discourage anyone who might have been thinking about carrying a concealed weapon.”

Brady Center President Paul Helmke, however, sees a danger.

“My concern is that there has been some publicity about this whole guns in the parks thing and some of the 4 million people coming in from all over the country (may) think that just because they have a concealed carry permit in their home state, that it gives them the right to come to the nation’s capital and carry (a gun),” Helmke said.

Norton agreed and pointed to the fact that, since the Supreme Court in June overturned D.C.’s 32-year ban on firearms, the city has been in the throes of rewriting its gun laws, which has cast much confusion over not only the city’s laws, but also how the National Park regulations will apply to them.

The Interior Department is aware of the possible confusion that could arise but does not believe it will impact security for the inauguration.

“Moving forward, we’ll continue to do outreach and education,” Paolino said. He added that gun owners have to have personal responsibility and understand local laws.

Pratt’s organization applauded the revised regulation and pointed to the murder of two women killed last Spring while camping in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park as a reason why concealed carrying of guns is important for the protection of park frequenters.

“At least a concealed carry holder now has the ability to defend himself against an animal or a two-legged predator,” Pratt said.

The National Park Service deferred comment to the Interior Department and the U.S. Secret Service deferred comment to the National Park Service and the U.S. Park Police.

Lt. G.W. Davis of the U.S. Park Police said the department is still trying to bring all of its officers up to speed with the new rule. “It’s a work in progress,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) said the public should not be concerned for their safety because D.C. does not allow non-law enforcement to carry concealed weapons and therefore the new regulation does not apply to D.C.

“For our purposes, it doesn’t change anything yet,” said Traci Huges, a spokeswoman for MPD. “And the only time a person can be carrying a weapon in the District is when they’re traveling from a gun dealer to register the weapon and the weapon cannot be concealed, so they cannot strap it on to their person under their coat.”