Judge blocks Bush concealed weapon rule

WASHINGTON, March 19 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Washington Thursday blocked enforcement of a Bush administration rule allowing people to carry loaded concealed weapons in national parks.

The rule, filed toward the end of former President George W. Bush's second term, reversed a 25-year-old U.S. Department of the Interior policy requiring that guns be kept unloaded, dismantled or locked up in national parks, except in areas designated for hunting and target practice.

Ruling Thursday in a suit brought in December, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing the rule. Kollar-Kotelly agreed with the plaintiffs that the government's process in enacting the change was "astoundingly flawed," The Washington Post reported.

The Justice Department had argued against blocking enforcement of the rule, the newspaper said.

The suit was filed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees. The Brady Campaign called the rule change the "Bush administration's parting gift for the gun lobby."