Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum has issued Secretarial Order 3447, a major step toward restoring the rights of lawful gun owners on federal lands. The order establishes a clear, department-wide standard: public and federally managed lands are open to hunting and fishing unless they are explicitly and legally closed.
In practical terms, this reverses years of bureaucratic creep that treated hunters as the exception rather than the rule.
The order directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs to identify and eliminate unnecessary regulations that block access to lawful hunting and fishing. That includes removing duplicative permits, contradictory rules, and arbitrary restrictions on lawful methods of take—including the use of firearms.
This new “open-unless-closed” framework aligns federal land policy with state, tribal, and territorial wildlife agencies, restoring common sense and consistency. Hunters and anglers should not lose their rights simply because they cross an invisible jurisdictional boundary onto federal land.
For Second Amendment supporters, the significance is clear: this order pushes back against policies that quietly restrict firearm use through regulation rather than law. It reaffirms that lawful gun ownership includes the lawful use of firearms for hunting on public land.
“For years, hunters and anglers have had to deal with outdated and confusing regulations when choosing to hunt on federal lands,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. “This decision streamlines much-needed policy changes and shows a real commitment to America’s sportsmen and women.”
NRA-ILA praised the move as a win for gun owners and outdoor traditions, noting that many prior restrictions had no public safety justification and functioned only as backdoor firearm prohibitions. The organization says it will continue working with the Department of the Interior to expand access, defend lawful firearm use, and roll back regulations that undermine the rights of hunters and anglers.
For America’s gun owners, this order is a reminder that the Second Amendment doesn’t stop at the trailhead—and that public land should remain public, accessible, and free for lawful use.
