Ken Burns: Allowing guns in national parks is 'foolish'
The decision by Congress to allow visitors to carry guns into national parks is 鈥渇oolish,鈥� PBS documentary producer Burns told an audience at the National Press Club on Monday.
Burns waded into the politically sensitive issue while PBS is currently broadcasting his six-part, twelve-hour series, 鈥淭he National Parks: America鈥檚 Best Idea.鈥� The New Hampshire film maker鈥檚 earlier works include widely-watched productions on the Civil War, baseball, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
A threat to species big and small
In May, Congress handed gun control forces a major defeat, voting to allow visitors to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. 鈥淸I] personally think it is foolish,鈥� Burns said during a question and answer session at the Press Club. 鈥淎ll species of all kinds are threatened by guns in the parks," he added.
Burns spoke of the parks鈥� impact on visitors in lofty 鈥� some might say overwrought 鈥� language. 鈥淭he parks are the declaration of independence applied to the landscape,鈥� he said in prepared remarks. The parks, he added, 鈥渃ontinue to perform a kind of open heart surgery鈥� on those who surrender to their beauty.
A huckster's paradise
There is 鈥渘ot enough time鈥� to list all of the places of beauty in the United States that are in danger of suffering from the commercialization that affects the area around Niagara Falls, he said. He called the Niagara area a 鈥渉ucksters鈥� paradise鈥� and 鈥減art of our national shame.鈥�
The youthful looking Burns, dressed in blazer and blue jeans, said he hopes his latest series 鈥渃ould be a galvanic moment for the parks鈥� and that it was his 鈥渇ervent wish that more families would go鈥� visit them as a result. He said he was especially eager to stimulate visits by African Americans and Hispanics 鈥渢hat do not yet feel the ownership of the parks鈥� that other citizens do.
