--- thomas w kavanagh <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Unless the NPS has gotten sloppy (or underfunded for such things) the > trainers/training should not be blamed for the stupidity of the trainees. I think overall the NPS training is pretty good. But the NPS has some flat out stupid regulations and they assume that anyone else with guns or cannons is stupid as well. Instead of critically evaluating the people who come and do reenactments on their property, they have enacted a bunch of silly rules which have little to do with safety. For example, you cannot have opposing fire on NPS property, no matter how far away the other troops are. But you can come right next to the audience on the side and fire right at them. The people sitting 5 feet away (behind a rope) are in more danger of getting a piece of buring wadding blown at them or be temporarily deafened by the gunfire than if an opposing force was 300 yards away across the field out of range of the guns even if they were loaded with real shot. Or at another park, my cav unit could not draw their swords and point them at the audience, even though they were well over 10 feet away and standing still, but they could point an unloaded pistol at them. So in other words, they were allowed to violate the first rule of gun safety - never point a weapon at someone unless you intend to use it - but not draw a blunt sword. The above examples and many others are reasons why some units will not participate at NPS events. This is a real shame because the NPS is a big draw and they are loosing out on some really good living historians and not really being that safe to begin with. Deb __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).