Rangers still leading the way...

..in stopping your right to defend your life in a national park. My past coverage here and here.

Although now it seems like they might not be able to stop much of anything. Not until they stop reassigning or firing their leadership.

These are the park rangers that say that there's no reason to allow armed citizens to drive through the sacred ground of the national parks. The same rangers who don't trust the good people of this country to carry a gun while hiking in the parks to defend themselves against criminals and critters. They don't want you "running up and down the Appalachian Trail with guns" but apparently think it's cool to do crossword puzzles while they're supposed to be keeping you safe.

These are the same rangers who can't even defend the capitol of our nation. How are they supposed to protect me while I'm visiting a park when they can't keep their own affairs in order?

The report...said the chief must share the blame. It said that the force was plagued by low morale, poor leadership and bad organization and that it was understaffed, insufficiently trained and woefully equipped.

Cries for more taxpayer funding to follow. There's more:

The report suggested that hallowed sites on the Mall are weakly guarded and vulnerable to terrorist attack. It included surveillance photographs of what appeared to be a Park Police officer sleeping in a police vehicle as well as private contract security guards talking on a cellphone and reading the newspaper at the Washington Monument.

This is the kind of protection that the National Park Service has for its citizens. This article represents the DC Park Police who are part of the National Park Service. I'm sure there are some parks where the rangers take their job more seriously, but there are a lot of parks across our nation.

Something I want to consider before I wander into some remote part of the wilderness unarmed is what am I going to do if I am attacked. Statements like this don't make me feel like the officers that are there to protect me will have my back when I need them:

Asked at the time about the accusation that the monuments were not adequately protected, he said: "They're still standing."

Truly absurd.