Guns To Be Allowed On Amtrak Trains

[mrjarrell]

Here's a "good" piece of news for train riders, I guess. You are going to be allowed to carry your firearm onboard trains pretty much the same way you can onboard airplanes.

via Security Info Watch

Under language inserted into a transportation funding bill last year, Amtrak passengers will be allowed to carry firearms in checked luggage beginning in December.
Though the provision was thought to expire later this year, the Government Accountability Office recently held that the legislation is permanent law.
According to the provision, firearms and ammunition may be transported in secure baggage onboard Amtrak trains under several guidelines including:
- Passengers must declare to Amtrak within 24-hours of departure that the firearm will be placed in their checked baggage.
- The gun must not be loaded and must also be carried in a hard-sided container.
- The hard-sided container must be locked with only the passenger having the combination or key for the container.
In a statement issued earlier this month, Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who was responsible for creating the provision, said that the law protects Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
"I am glad that Amtrak met its statutorily required deadline and is on track to implement the checked firearms program by December. Soon, train passengers will have the same right as air travelers to securely transport firearms in checked baggage," he said.

 

[IndySSD]

Nice!!

Maybe I'll consider train trips with my family to places other than Chicago now.

 

[Bill of Rights]

I'm a little confused... Why would there be a restriction preventing carry on your person? What's someone going to do, trainjack Amtrak to Cuba? There's only so much control an engineer has over his train, that being how fast it travels. Which direction is controlled from trackside, and IIRC, if it stops, SOMEone's going to see it on GPS.

Oh, that's right... it's somehow their responsibility to protect us.

Thanks, no, I'd prefer to protect myself.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[Protest]

I have ridden the Amtrak. It is an experience to remember. A keen reader would note that I did not necessarily say it is a good experience to remember.

 

[Protest]

I'm a little confused... Why would there be a restriction preventing carry on your person? What's someone going to do, trainjack Amtrak to Cuba? There's only so much control an engineer has over his train, that being how fast it travels. Which direction is controlled from trackside, and IIRC, if it stops, SOMEone's going to see it on GPS.

Oh, that's right... it's somehow their responsibility to protect us.

Thanks, no, I'd prefer to protect myself.

Blessings,
Bill

The one Amtrak I ever rode on was 8 hours late to my stop. That's because someone loaded dead trees on the track in Utah to attempt a derailment and they had to get a new engine out to it before it could proceed to my destination. While I was riding, another derailment was attempted in Nebraska but the engineer saw it in time and stopped us in the middle of nowhere for many hours while the situation was taken care of.

I have many more stories of that fateful Amtrak trip from Colorado to Indiana.

 

[CarmelHP]

The one Amtrak I ever rode on was 8 hours late to my stop. That's because someone loaded dead trees on the track in Utah to attempt a derailment and they had to get a new engine out to it before it could proceed to my destination. While I was riding, another derailment was attempted in Nebraska but the engineer saw it in time and stopped us in the middle of nowhere for many hours while the situation was taken care of.

I have many more stories of that fateful Amtrak trip from Colorado to Indiana.

CO to IN by way of UT? Hmmmm, I'll pass.

 

[match14]

The farthest I've taken Amtrack was from northern Indiana to Missouri. I'll drive as, the train really didn't get us their much faster.

 

[Protest]

CO to IN by way of UT? Hmmmm, I'll pass.

No, the train was on it's way to CO via Utah when the first derailment was attempted. That's why it was 8 hours late getting to my stop. Then I got on.

It was a straight shot from CO to IN.

 

[6birds]

Oh, that's right... it's somehow their responsibility to protect us.

Thanks, no, I'd prefer to protect myself.

Blessings,
Bill

Do you ever fly commercial?

 

[Bill of Rights]

Do you ever fly commercial?

Not often, and I don't like it much when I do. Typically, it's for things like weddings and funerals.

I understand your point. I also understand that the freakazoids can't grasp the concept of armed citizens carrying for no other purpose than self defense and how they can show how planes have been hijacked in the past and forced to fly to other destinations than intended.

Really, though, what's the point in hijacking a train? Can't redirect the rails to drive it into a building (other than a station, i.e. Grand Central), can't force the engineer to take it to Cuba (a little wet over that 90 miles, and there are no tracks), and GPS in case someone stops it to rob and/or kill everyone. It's as stupid as any other "gun free zone" with the exception of a penal facility.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[wag1911]

Let me ask this silly question: Are there metal detectors or pat downs now before you board a train?

 

[6birds]

Let me ask this silly question: Are there metal detectors or pat downs now before you board a train?

Which station?

 

[wag1911]

Anywhere, but especially Indy, Chicago, and other midwestern big cities.

 

[6birds]

Chicago, some, not all, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St Louis also have metal detectors at some staions.

 

[wag1911]

Sounds like they are finally taking security more seriously via rail. I have not traveled by rail in almost 15 yrs.

 

[6birds]

Sounds like they are finally taking security more seriously via rail. I have not traveled by rail in almost 15 yrs.

Security is having my wife and I both carrying, not a poor .GOV rule dragged over to another transportaion system.

The metal detectors are easy to get around, they are a "feel-good" tactic.

I go aroung them, and the one in St Louis is set so high off the ground that when you slightly drag your feet, it doesn't catch the revolver in your ankle holster.

I'm traveling with 4 kids, safety first.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

The reason aircraft got hijacked was to get to friendly airspace. If your goal is something other than getting somewhere "friendly", sneaking weapons on a train is a great way to have a captive audience for your atrocity-of-the-week.

 

[wag1911]

Security is having my wife and I both carrying, not a poor .GOV rule dragged over to another transportaion system.

The metal detectors are easy to get around, they are a "feel-good" tactic.

I go aroung them, and the one in St Louis is set so high off the ground that when you slightly drag your feet, it doesn't catch the revolver in your ankle holster.

I'm traveling with 4 kids, safety first.

Point taken...the reason I stated that was because the railways had nothing for combating terrorism in the past. So metal detectors are a step up, albeit not a perfect one.

As you point out, they are not as effective as they could be and they are not the best solution. To me a train full of armed citizens and screening devices along with behavioral profiling is the best solution. However, since very few use the train to travel in America, and we have been subsidizing Amtrak for at least a couple of decades, I doubt anymore measures will be put in place due to costs. We have too many dip****s in Congress to ever let carry on trains and planes occur once again, and that would be a FREE solution.

 

[rambone]

Really, though, what's the point in hijacking a train?

This documentary should provide the answers you seek:

Under Siege 2

 

[sloughfoot]

OK, what did I miss? The ruling allows firearms to be in "checked" baggage.

It isn't about the Feds allowing you to carry it on your person or carry on bags, right?

I carried on my person went I went from Waterloo, IN to NC no matter what their silly rules are.......