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Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§1a–7b Protection of Right of Individuals to Bear Arms

Title 16 › Chapter 1— NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › Subchapter I— NATIONAL PARK SERVICE › § 1a–7b

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Stops the Secretary from making or enforcing any rule that bans a person from having a firearm, including an assembled or working gun, in any unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System if the person is not already banned from owning the gun and if having the gun follows the law of the State where the refuge is located. Congress found that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms; that Fish and Wildlife rules usually banned guns on refuges and kept law-abiding people from using their rights; that different rules at different refuges trapped lawful gun owners; that new rules from the Bush administration took effect on January 9, 2009 but a court blocked them on March 19, 2009 and they are under review by the Obama administration; and that Congress must protect those rights on 90,790,000 acres of refuge land.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §1a–7b

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Congress finds the following:
(1)The 2d amendment to the Constitution provides that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.
(2)section 27.42 of title 50, Code of Federal Regulations, provides that, except in special circumstances, citizens of the United States may not “possess, use, or transport firearms on national wildlife refuges” of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(3)The regulations described in paragraph (2) prevent individuals complying with Federal and State laws from exercising the 2d amendment rights of the individuals while at units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
(4)The existence of different laws relating to the transportation and possession of firearms at different units of the National Wildlife Refuge System entrapped law-abiding gun owners while at units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
(5)Although the Bush administration issued new regulations relating to the 2d amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in units of the National Wildlife Refuge System that went into effect on January 9, 2009—
(A)on March 19, 2009, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction with respect to the implementation and enforcement of the new regulations; and
(B)the new regulations—
(i)are under review by the Obama administration; and
(ii)may be altered.
(6)Congress needs to weigh in on the new regulations to ensure that unelected bureaucrats and judges cannot again override the 2d amendment rights of law-abiding citizens on 90,790,000 acres of land under the jurisdiction of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
(7)Federal laws should make it clear that the 2d amendment rights of an individual at a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System should not be infringed.
(b)The Secretary shall not promulgate or enforce any regulation that prohibits an individual from possessing a firearm, including an assembled or functional firearm, in any unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System if—
(1)the individual is not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing the firearm; and
(2)the possession of the firearm is in compliance with the law of the State in which the unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System is located.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2014—Pub. L. 113–287, § 7, which directed repeal of this section insofar as it related to the National Park System, could not be executed because of the general amendment by Pub. L. 113–287, § 4(d), which made section applicable only to the National Wildlife Refuge System. See below. For provisions related to the National Park System, see section 104906 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs. Pub. L. 113–287, § 4(d), amended section generally. Prior to amendment, section related to the right of Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights in the National Park System and the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective nine months after May 22, 2009, except as otherwise specifically provided, see section 3 of Pub. L. 111–24, set out as an

Effective Date

of 2009 Amendment note under section 1602 of Title 15, Commerce and Trade.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 1a–7b

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60