A Texas firearms instructor and two major gun rights advocacy groups have officially sued the federal government, seeking to overturn the ban on carrying firearms inside visitor centers, ranger stations, and other buildings within the National Park System.
The complaint, filed March 27, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, names U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi as the defendant.
The legal challenge focuses on Gary Zimmerman, a Fort Worth resident and certified firearms instructor who holds carry licenses in ten different states.
Zimmerman, a frequent traveler who has visited parks like Big Bend and Arches dozens of times, argues that current federal law forces him into a dangerous dilemma. Under 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), possessing a firearm in a “federal facility”—defined as buildings where federal employees work—is a crime.
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According to the filing, Zimmerman is forced to disarm and lock his handgun in a vehicle safe every time he enters a park office to grab a permit or buy supplies. The lawsuit claims these buildings often lack the comprehensive security or checkpoints that would justify them being labeled “sensitive places.”
“More than 300 million people traveled through the National Park System last year, and each of them were unconstitutionally barred from carrying firearms inside specific buildings at those parks,” said Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) Executive Director Adam Kraut. He noted that campers are effectively “disenfranchised” when they must choose between following park registration rules and maintaining their means of self-defense.
The plaintiffs, which include the SAF and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), argue that these restrictions violate the Second Amendment under the Supreme Court’s Bruen standard.
That 2022 ruling requires the government to prove that any gun restriction is consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The lawsuit specifically targets not just the federal facility ban, but also 36 C.F.R. § 1.5, which allows individual park superintendents to impose their own localized gun bans, such as the one currently affecting cave tours at Mammoth Cave National Park.
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Alan M. Gottlieb, founder of the SAF, characterized the current rules as an attempt by “ideologues” to bypass the Supreme Court. “Peaceable citizens should not be forced to choose between exercising their right to keep and bear arms and enjoying the full breadth of the National Park System,” Gottlieb said.
Zimmerman, who plans to visit Yellowstone, Glacier, and several other major parks this year, stated in the complaint that he intends to carry his firearm in these facilities immediately if the court strikes down the current bans. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the bans unconstitutional and issue a permanent injunction against their enforcement.
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