Les Jones

RE: The GW Parkway. For those unfamiliar, it’s a 4-lane road that runs between, roughly, Mt. Vernon to the south and Rte 495, the Washington, D.C. Capitol Beltway, to the north, along the Virginia side of the Potomac River. Through the city of Alexandria the parkway follows Washington St.

There has long been a “low level dispute” about ownership of some of the land in the Alexandria area, in that Washington, D.C. at one point claimed (and may still support the claim) that the property defined by the 1792 high water mark of the Potomac is within the boundaries of D.C., since the Potomac River itself is within the D.C. boundaries, at least as far upstream and downstream as they extend. That would place much of the current Alexandria waterfront in D.C. which, interestingly, would have included the now-defunct Interarms operation.

What is not in dispute, however, is that a couple miles north of Alexandria both the northbound and southbound sides of the parkway, just north of Reagan National Airport, cross the boundary into the District of Columbia, and for most of the distance between the 14th St Bridge (officially named the Rochembeau Memorial Bridge) and the Theodore Roosevelt bridge (so named because it crosses Theodore Roosevelt island, carrying Rte 66 traffic between VA and DC) the northbound side of the GW Parkway is, indeed, within the boundaries of the District of Columbia.

Meaning that, despite the new guns in parks bill allowing carry of firearms in national parks, there is a two mile or so stretch of this particular park within the borders of the District of Columbia, of which I’m sure a great many are not aware (and, probably few boaters are also aware that a stretch of the Potomac River is within the D.C. borders).

D.C., you may remember, was the subject of a recent court action regarding its draconian gun laws, in which the plaintiff, a Mr. Heller, was successful. So far, however, indications are that the D.C. government has not been terribly enthusiastic regarding adoption of the principles reaffirmed in that suit, choosing instead to continue its highly restrictive practices. As a sidenote, that has earned it another similar suit from the same Mr. Heller.

The point here is that while the new federal statutes provide for reasonable possession and carry, beginning February 22, 2010, there may be other considerations in regards to local restrictions of which many will be unaware. And, while I have never heard of D.C. law enforcement patrolling the above mentioned stretch of the G.W. Parkway, I’m confident there’s a radio channel for them in most of the federal police vehicles which do patrol the parkway.

I mistyped “Rochambeau” above as “Rochembeau.” $!@# keyboard…..

[...] Jones note what is often lost in the debate on carry in national parks: traveling on roads that just happen to go through parks. Yeah, living here at the base of the [...]