Senate votes to allow Amtrak riders to carry guns in their checked baggage

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jersey_emt

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Senate votes to allow Amtrak riders to carry guns in their checked baggage

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Wednesday to permit riders on the Amtrak passenger railroad to transport handguns in their checked baggage.

The proposal, approved by a 68-to-30 vote, seeks to give Amtrak riders rights comparable to those enjoyed by airline passengers, who are permitted to transport firearms provided that they declare they are doing so and that the arms are unloaded and in a securely locked container.

"Americans should not have their Second Amendment rights restricted for any reason, particularly if they choose to travel on America's federally subsidized rail line," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who made the proposal.

(continued at NY Daily News)
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Passengers on Amtrak will now be able to travel with their firearms similar to how is already done on airlines. IMO, this is a good step forward in retaining the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens.
 
On the one hand...

... I'm in favor of this, in theory.

On the other hand, in reality AmTrak makes a good point when they say they don't have comparable screening capabilities to the airlines. They really don't have the same screening or security in place.

Curious to see what kind of growing pains this might run into. Hope it works out, but wish more thought had gone into execution.
 
jersey_emt said:
Passengers on Amtrak will now be able to travel with their firearms similar to how is already done on airlines.
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No, you're a bit premature on that assessment:
The legislation still must be reconciled with a House-passed measure that does not contain the gun-rights provision.
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Given my checked gun case with three handguns disappeared for a couple of days when flying, I would be really hesitant to check guns on the train.
 
although i have never ridden amtk i dispatch the long haul ones a regular basis when they go across our trackage, just about everynight to be exact.

I personally dont think i would ever ride amtk anyways but its nice to know if i ever do i could bring my guns if i needed to. I assume weapons could only be in checked baggage like on an airplane, if thats the case i see no problem with it.

I even think you should be able to carry on amtk if you have a chl pursuant to state laws...like texas to oklahoma since they have reciprocity agreements, but i guess since they technically are a private business it is thier right to allow or disallow if they please.

The locomotive isnt easily or at all accessible from the cars much like airplanes that have restricted cockpit access.

i imagine part of the reason they passed this is to try and increase ridership, maybe they think hunters will take trips out to montana or some other hunting destination, i doubt it was done with good will towards 2a supporters or anything like that...

last thing i have to say on the matter: i cant count how many times i have had amtk stop and request police assistance with removing rowdy, drunk or brawling passengers from the train. probaly best if the guns are in checked unaccessable baggage (which i'm sure they are) would be nice if they had a chl exception though...
 
I rode an Amtrak train from Longveiw, TX to Bloomington, IL on 12/17/08. It might have changed but, I really didn't see any "checked baggage" that I didn't have access to. When we (finally) boarded they put all the checked baggage downstairs from where we were seated on shelves and I had access to it for the whole trip (The shelves were on the way to restroom so, everyone had access) . There was NO security of any sort. There was one lady who had 3 cardboard boxes that were approx. 150-200 pounds each that were never looked at twice.

IMO I would have been OK with people being able to transport their firearms but, they need a serious security update.
 
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