What to know about carrying guns in national parks -- and how rules might change
A new lawsuit from the nonprofit Second Amendment Foundation challenges rules banning firearms in national park buildings, including visitor centers, ranger stations and offices.
The lawsuit, filed March 27 in federal court in Texas, was brought by the foundation alongside the Firearms Policy Coalition and firearms instructor Gary Zimmerman, who frequently visits national parks. It specifically targets Section 930(a) of U.S. Code Title 18, the federal law that prohibits people from knowingly carrying firearms inside government buildings.
Second Amendment Foundation director of legal operations Bill Sack told SFGATE the lawsuit focuses on how national park buildings have been grouped under the broader category of "sensitive places," where firearms are banned, and that those rules are ultimately unconstitutional.
"The ban at federal facilities writ large is overinclusive," he said. "It runs contrary to the history and tradition of gun control in the country."
Guns are generally allowed in national parks, but visitors must follow the firearm laws of the state the park is in, and guns are allowed only for self-defense. That creates a sharp distinction: Someone may legally carry a gun on a trail or in a parking lot but must leave it behind before entering a visitor center, ranger station or other federal building. The lawsuit highlights that gap, arguing it forces visitors to disarm just to buy a pass, get a permit or use park facilities.
That hasn't always been the case. Before 2010, firearms in national parks were heavily restricted under federal rules and had to be unloaded, cased or disassembled, even for people with valid permits. A change in federal law that year shifted the rules to follow state gun laws, allowing visitors to carry in most outdoor areas of parks - while keeping the ban on guns in federal buildings in place.
Needing to disarm for a few minutes to peruse a visitor center might just seem like a minor inconvenience, but the gun rights group argues that any small restriction could lead to a dangerous situation.
"More than 300 million people traveled through the National Park System last year, and each of them were unconstitutionally barred from carrying firearms inside specific buildings at those parks," said Second Amendment Foundation executive director Adam Kraut in a news release. "Campers wishing to carry a firearm for self-defense in these parks, for instance, are made to disarm before stepping foot inside a visitor center or ranger station to obtain a permit to camp. This disenfranchisement forces peaceable citizens to choose between following the registration rules for each park or going unarmed while they gather the proper documentation allowing them to enjoy our National Park System. That's not a choice any law-abiding American should have to make."
"If there's a place where you may need to defend yourself justifiably or your family, you have the constitutional right to be prepared to do that," Sack said. "There's no category that's too small where we're willing to tell our constituency, 'Sorry, you just have to get killed if you go into the visitor center.'"
According to National Park Service mortality data, which is validated only through 2019, there were 25 homicides across the parks between 2014 and 2019. There is no public data on the causes of those deaths. Additional data from the Park Service obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request shows 3,985 deaths between 2007 and 2023, according to Backpacker - drowning, car crashes and suicide were the most common causes of death in that period.
The Park Service declined to comment on firearm policies within national parks, as it does not comment on litigation.
The lawsuit leans heavily on the Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision, which expanded protections for carrying firearms in public and set a new standard requiring gun laws to align with the nation's historical tradition.
While gun advocates argue that national parks have long operated with loose firearm restrictions, gun control groups like Everytown for Gun Safety counter that careful laws around gun safety are deeply ingrained in the Park Service. The Department of the Interior prohibited the carrying of firearms in Sequoia and Yellowstone in the 1890s, and it banned them in Yosemite, Mount Rainier and Crater Lake when those parks were established not long after, according to a 2024 paper published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review.
"This should be an easy case. The Supreme Court has already made clear that prohibiting guns in government buildings is constitutional, and there is a vast historical tradition of prohibiting guns throughout parks - including, for well over a hundred years, in national parks," Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at Everytown Law, told SFGATE. "This effort to undermine federal law is as baseless as it is reckless."
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This story was originally published April 10, 2026 at 10:39 AM.