On further review, another proposed county parks restriction will bite the dust, this time on legal grounds, not necessarily due to public sentiment.

People who have a license to carry a concealed handgun — about one in every 25 residents in Lancaster County — will still be allowed to pack heat on a stroll through Central Park or any of the other five county parks or two rail-trails.

County park officials had proposed a slate of new regulations that would have banned any weapon, including handguns, from being brought into the parks.

But as guns-rights activists here and out of state have pointed out, the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act of 1995 prohibits any county or municipality from preempting the license-to-carry law.

There are some places that don't allow a handgun with a license — federal courthouses, parts of airports and private property that have been specifically posted, for example — but county parks are not among them.

County Commissioners Chairman Dennis Stuckey — a National Rifle Association member — said this morning that the gun-ban wording will be changed so that it does not interfere with the rights of gun holders.

"We're not going to trample anybody's rights in the area of the Second Amendment, let me assure folks of that," Stuckey said.

"I make the assumption that if someone has a permit to carry, they will meet the expectations of safety for others. Our expectation would be that they handle the guns responsibly and with the safety of others in mind."

Commissioner Scott Martin, who himself has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, voiced a similar sentiment.

"In society, people have that right and we respect that right," he said, referring to the license to carry a concealed firearm.

He said the intent of the gun ban was to have something on the books to prevent a possible lawsuit if guns weren't expressly forbidden.

A slate of new park restrictions and rules are up for a vote at the commissioners' meeting at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday in the county courthouse.

The commissioners actually passed the flat gun ban on Feb. 13, after first cancelling a meeting, then holding it two hours later.

After a challenge about the legality of the meeting, the commissioners considered that meeting null and void.

When the commissioners revisited the topic Wednesday, the concealed-weapons issue was broached by citizen activist Ron Harper Jr. and the commissioners delayed action on the proposed park regulations.

Recently, after a public outcry, the commissioners said they would change restrictions on wading in streams in county parks.

Jesse Rothacker, 26, who lives near Mount Joy, has a permit to carry and does so in frequent visits to Central Park.

"Police can't be everywhere, all the time, especially in expansive parks with lonely, deserted trails," he says in a letter to the editor in today's New Era.

"Disarming lawful citizens only serves to embolden criminals who hold no regard for park policy or the law. These types of anti-gun measures may help some people feel safer. Unfortunately, feeling safer and actually being safer are not the same things.

"As we have grimly learned at Virginia Tech and the University of Northern Illinois, "gun-free zones" only create the illusion of safety, where victims are defenseless."

Michael Stollenwerk, a former county resident and guns-rights activist, said of the proposed ban, "A crime can happen anywhere, and people have the right to defend themselves and others."

If commissioners pass the gun ban as written, they'll be committing a criminal act, asserts Kim Stolfer of the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League, a coalition of groups that fights for gun owners' rights.

"Our organization would take them to court."