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PrintA Wyoming Freedom -for-All
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Clyde Walsowski-Smith told me had a dream: He aspired to be the first American to carry a semi-automatic assault weapon into Taggart Lake in Grand Teton National Park. And this past winter—thanks to an Interior Department ruling in the last days of the Bush Administration—Clyde got his chance.
He called me in late February, the first day the temperature broke twenty degrees.
“The time to make history is nigh,” Clyde said.
“Can’t we make history in June?” I asked. “I’d rather have our feet on the ground if you’re armed.”
“The way this country works some idiot judge is likely to change the rules by summer. This is our window of firearms opportunity.”
Making gun history wasn’t high on my personal to-do list, but I figured it would be a hoot to see how recreational cross-country skiers reacted
when faced with a howling commando. Would they cheer us on as patriots or hide their women and children?
Clyde picked me up wearing a camo pattern called Ghillie-Flage. Made him look like Bigfoot enshrouded in poison ivy. He said, “Let’s go exercise our Second Amendment rights.”
“I wish there was a right to drink another cup of coffee. That would be freedom on parade.”
“Democrats drink coffee,” Clyde said. “Sportsmen drink beer. Let’s have one.”
After downing his first PBR of the day, Clyde gave me a lesson in civics. He stopped his Yukon, with snowmobile trailer in tow, at the Grand Teton National Park entrance pullout north of town. Then he stood by the welcome sign with his rifle—a Bushmaster AR-15, for those who care—in his right hand and a large, dress-size plastic bag from Coldwater Creek in his left.
“This side of the line is Wyoming,” Clyde said. “My weapon must be clearly visible.” As he crossed the park boundary, he slid the Bushmaster into the Coldwater Creek bag. “This side of the line is national park. To be legal here, the gun must be concealed from view.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because the Department of Interior hates the state of Wyoming,” Clyde said, “and vice versa.”
