Can we metal detect on national parks if there is a Government shutdown?

It would be a national shutdown. It's bluff tactics every time Congress brings this up... but maybe this time???

One of the effects of this would be national parks being closed. But I'm not sure if park rangers would be able to do anything if you went metal detecting on the land.
 
As far as I know, National Parks are off limits, even here in Australia.

I agree, gold prospecting should not be allowed in National Parks (even though I go gold prospecting), but modern coin shooting? It's not like you're taking anything of historical or natural significance.
Unless you think that 4 year old pull tab is a historical artefact...:lol:
 
If a shutdown happens,,,you need to go to the White House lawn and detect.

Find all the silver ole Abe lost.
 
That is an awesome question! :laughing:

I'm glad I don't live somewhere where I might have to face that question, because I would find the possibility very tempting.
 
Legally the answer is still no. It's analogous to "can I sneak into the movie theater if no one is watching". It's still illegal.
 
Of course you can. Should you is a different question


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Can you exceed the speed limit if you know for a fact that there is no enforcement on a given day ? OF COURSE NOT. The speed limit is still the speed limit. That's why no one fudges the speed limit when they see they're all alone on a lonely stretch of road, right ?
 
It's the old " if you have to ask the question" type and of thing....if you find yourself looking over your shoulder the answer is clearly "no". Do right, receive right. At least that's the idea.
 
Can you exceed the speed limit if you know for a fact that there is no enforcement on a given day ? OF COURSE NOT. The speed limit is still the speed limit. That's why no one fudges the speed limit when they see they're all alone on a lonely stretch of road, right ?

The speed of light is an unbreakable limit. :yes:
 
Can you exceed the speed limit if you know for a fact that there is no enforcement on a given day ? OF COURSE NOT. The speed limit is still the speed limit. That's why no one fudges the speed limit when they see they're all alone on a lonely stretch of road, right ?

:lol:

You reminded me of very busy expressways I've driven on in the past where it seemed about 99% of the drivers went about a constant 10 to 20 MPH over the speed limit (some even more) and you felt like you would be a traffic hazard if you went the speed limit, it can be a perplexing situation, you don't want to get a ticket for speeding, but you don't want to have cars and trucks zooming up on your bumper either :?:
 
It would be a national shutdown. It's bluff tactics every time Congress brings this up... but maybe this time???

One of the effects of this would be national parks being closed. But I'm not sure if park rangers would be able to do anything if you went metal detecting on the land.

ahahhaah I could see it now. A bunch of guys with detectors waiting in the bushes for the "SHUT DOWN" to happen.
 
This is always a fun subject! To think about 'What Might Happen' if the Law takes a break someday? Where would I go? What would I do? scenarios....

Actually, Some peoples behavior is not the least bit constrained by laws, they do pretty much as they please and concentrate on avoiding enforcement/penalty...they break laws all the time! They over fish the creel and size limits, speed, spit on the sidewalk, smoke in a schoolyard! Insider trade! Generally happy go lucky folks without a care in the World!! Utterly immune from the vagarities of ever changing rules and restrictions imposed by other Humans upon them...

Other People are bound by a personally held 'code of ethics' and would never think of stepping outside those boundaries..

Its the 'Goofus and Gallant' paradox depicted in the childrens magazine 'Highlights'!

If the Nat Parks funding was shut down and the enforcing Rangers were let go....'Goofus' would be detecting Gettysburg! Hunting Elk, Grizz and Bison at Yellowstone!, Shooting Denali Park migrating Salmon with a .357!....Just ripping around the US in an RV with expired tags, camping wherever he pleased, flipping lit cigarette butts out the window and drinking even! Just having a ball!

'Gallant' on the other hand, would be all buttoned up indoors...concerned about something having to do with asking permission or getting a permit to hunt for pennies down at the local town park!.......:laughing:

Its actually very funny to think about! Sometimes, in the right circumstances, a 'Gallant' can go full on 'Goofus'!

I had a 'Gallant' friend who went on a early Spring canoe trip with another Church member of exemplary reputation....The weather went to hell as it always does...Heavy Cold Rain with the Pere Marquette River raging! They flipped of course...made it to shore, near death from hypothermia with all their gear washed down the river....Luckily found an empty cabin along the riverbank...took a piece of firewood and bashed down the door!..stayed there overnight!.....ate the food and slept in the beds!...Boy did I give him Hell about that! An honorable man would have died out there on the riverbank before breaking into somebodies house!

Just saying...Gallants can flip their morals in a hurry!....a Goofus will never have that problem!:laughing:

Moral of the Story?
Dont be too judgemental of others, for it is written: "Let Him Who is without Sticks, cast the first Stone"
 
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If you'll think back to the last time the government "shut down" and all the national parks closed, the rangers DID NOT leave. In fact they made a big show of enforcing the shutdown, going so far as to place barricades at national monuments to keep people away. I got really irritated that they would turn away veterans whose only chance to see their monuments was denied because of the whim of childish politicians.
 
.....spit on the sidewalk, ...

M-puppy, loved your post ! :laughing:

.... rob a bank...

Does anyone here see the broad range of attempted analogies ? In each case of the above (spitting on sidewalks vs robbing banks) both are illegal in New York. Yet I think the average person (even Scuba) would spit on the sidewalk in NY if there were no police around enforcing it . Yet the average person (including scuba) would NOT rob a bank, even if not enforced.

So where does metal detecting then fit into this "reasonable man" argument ? Is our hobby akin to robbing banks ? Or are we innocuous like spitting on sidewalks ?

(And I guess the question would also hinge on whether we're talking something sacred like Shiloh, Ghettysburg, Bodie, etc.... (which, yes, is the reason for such laws , to protect). Versus if we're talking about a beach or CCC era campground, etc....
 
They refer to it as a government " shut down " but that's just for drama , and to make it look like one party or the other isn't doing their job. Certain services and offices deemed not essential will not work during that time period , and that usually means national parks will be closed. But the way our government operates they don't do very much work anyway. Government shut down kinda means the people who don't really do anything at the office can stay home and not do anything there instead. :lol: But the government dosent completely shut down.
 
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