Exclusive: REPUBLICAN Senator’s Plan To Let GUNS On Amtrak Moves Closer To Reality

[Segami]

It doesn't cease to amaze me how many Republican politicians always seem to find the collective will and passion amongst themselves to support a variety of destructive issues yet, when it comes to social or humanitarian issues for the betterment of ALL, their compassion is nothing short of Charles Manson. Time for everyone to start taking the bus.




" WASHINGTON - A Government Accountability Office study quietly released Thursday has bolstered a Republican senator’s efforts to force Amtrak's rail service to accommodate gun toting riders or face shutdown, Raw Story has found.



The GAO ruled Thursday that an amendment inserted into a transportation funding bill by Republican Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) was permanent law, erasing doubts that Amtrak would have to comply. The mandate would force Amtrak to reverse a longstanding rule banning passengers from bringing guns onto trains instituted after 9/11.



The ruling comes just one week before the cash-strapped rail service must report back to the U.S. Senate with a plan to provide for gun-owning passengers. Wicker's amendment would strip the passenger rail service of $1.6 billion in federal funding if it does not formulate a gun-friendly plan.


If Amtrak doesn't come up with a way to allow guns, the law would effectively shutter service to congested areas like the so-called Northeast corridor between Washington DC and New York.



“In our eyes this is a victory,” said Ryan Anniston, spokesman for the Mississippi senator who inserted the amendment into the $68.8 billion Senate transportation and housing and urban development spending bill in early 2010. “We expect Amtrak will comply.”



The Amtrak law is what is considered an "unfunded mandate," a law passed by Congress that requires compliance to a government agency or government-subsidized program but doesn't provide additional resources.


In recent testimony before the Senate, Amtrak's security chief warned that the company was already short on money to adequately address terrorist threats. Amtrak is a favorite fiscal target of prominent Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who killed funding for a high speed rail service in 2008.


“As Amtrak has more than 500 stations, we are always resource-constrained,” Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor testified in April.


In his testimony, Amtrak's top security officer said that one of the most likely scenarios for an attack on a train is terrorists bearing firearms.


more


<http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0611/republican-senator-guns-amtrak/>



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[derby378]

1. Some people only know how to whine...

There's a monster in every closet and a terrorist under every bed. Be afraid.

Of course Amtrak's top security officer would say something like that. Lest we forget, 9/11 was pulled off by Saudis using boxcutters.

[Segami]

6. Republican policies change ONCE they beome the minority. Not a single republican ever once

proposed a ' carrying a gun on trains ' bill to become law on Bush's watch.

[derby378]

8. That's true...

And I should clarify something. I wasn't accusing you of whining in my post. :hi:

[benEzra]

14. Bush was the one who ENACTED the stupid rule that is now being repealed. (n/t)

[PavePusher]

19. Ya gotta luv it....

when people don't do their homework.

Like the entire Anti-Second Amendment movement.... :eyes:

[burnsei sensei]

2. To allow passengers on a train

to carry guns is STUPID.
It is nothing more and nothing less. The man should be told his thinking is stupid to his face.

[Hoopla Phil]

3. I know the articles says "tote" guns but that is misleading. The bill does NOT allow for carrying

of arms. It allows for firearms to be transported in checked baggage just like airplanes. I have no problem with this. Of course the only relevant counter argument is that there are no metal detectors to screen for it. BUT, criminals are already carrying guns on the train.

[TheWraith]

11. How do you figure?

They'll be allowed to include a locked weapon in their checked baggage, the same rules under which you can take a gun on a plane. Are you going to tell me that Amtrak is more secure than a 747, or that a gun locked away in checked baggage is more dangerous to it?

[PavePusher]

15. Why? How do you support your assertion? n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Deleted.

[Hoopla Phil]

5. I know the articles says "tote" guns but that is misleading. The bill does NOT allow for carrying

of arms. It allows for firearms to be transported in checked baggage just like airplanes. I have no problem with this. Of course the only relevant counter argument is that there are no metal detectors to screen for it. BUT, criminals are already carrying guns on the train.

And lets say for argument that a bill came about to allow for CHL holders to carry on the train. So what? The only reason for not allowing it on airplanes is the decompression issue. So far I don't know of any problems with CHLs on busses. . .

[ieoeja]

7. Who cares if luggage -- inaccesible to passengers aboard the train -- contains a firearm?

From the first paragraph of the GAO's letter to the Senator (emphasis mine):

"The provision requires Amtrak to (1) evaluate and report on the security issues surrounding the implementation of a checked firearms program, and (2) develop and implement guidance and procedures to carry out the duties and responsibilities of firearm storage and carriage in checked baggage cars and at Amtrak stations that accept checked baggage. For the reasons stated below, we conclude that this provision is permanent law."

[NoNothing]

9. But but but

The mere *knowledge* that there might be guns on the same train as me, well it offends and disturbs me! How will I travel in peace, knowing that those guns are in another car...sitting there...just waiting to kill someone...

[Hoopla Phil]

10. Ha Ha Ha. You must not fly commercial much. nt

[PavePusher]

16. I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm...

for the benefit of the hysterical hand-wringers.

Come on, think of the children...

[Hoopla Phil]

23. I figured it was sarcasm, that's why I started off with the Ha Ha's.

tough to type intent. lol

[gorfle]

12. THIS LAW MAKES TRAINS NO DIFFERENT THAN AIRPLANES TODAY!

Oh for Pete's sake, here we go again.

For the up-teenth-time, this law is NOT A LAW THAT ALLOWS PEOPLE TO CARRY FIREARMS ON THEIR PERSON!

All this law does is allow firearms to be checked as baggage. This is the same way it works on airlines.

Anyone who has ever gone on a hunting trip by air has done this. You take your firearm up to the baggage counter, declare that it is an unloaded firearm, and then the firearm goes into a special baggage handling area for special care are transport. When you get to the other end of your flight, you have to go to a special baggage claim place to get your firearm.

All this law does is make the train service offer these same kinds of checked baggage services for firearm baggage.

[Remmah2]

13. Ever try hijacking a train?

Take this Amtrack to Cuba.

[PavePusher]

17. Any train-hijack movie ever made...

would last an hour or less in real life...

Less if passengers were not denied their Civil Rights.

[PavePusher]

18. What do you think is going to happen here?

Please provide evidence and cites to support your assertions/assumptions...

P.S. Better yet, tell us what you think this law means and will allow... because I don't think it means what you seem to imply...

[Euromutt]

20. This is a story from last year; "Raw Story" only found about this now?

This measure was enacted into law six months ago. From the Amtrak website (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Content_C&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267293829):

The Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010, enacted into law on December 16, 2009, requires Amtrak to implement the procedures necessary to provide storage and carriage of firearms in checked baggage cars and at Amtrak stations that accept checked baggage, within one year of the bill’s enactment. This requirement applies solely to checked baggage, not carry-on baggage.

Amtrak’s current policy prohibits all firearms, ammunition and other weapons aboard its trains. This includes any being carried on the person, in carry-on baggage or in checked baggage. Please be advised that this policy remains in effect until Amtrak begins firearm carriage service by December 2010.

So what this does is allow firearms to be transported in checked luggage only, which means the firearms will be transported in the separate baggage car, thereby bringing Amtrak back into compliance with the Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 1986.

As far as security is concerned, there are already no practical measures to stop someone with nefarious intent (e.g. terrorists, mass shooters, etc.) smuggling a firearm onto a passenger train, so it's not like this measure is going to make it possible for such people to do anything they were unable to previously. Given that the current Amtrak blanket ban on firearms is mere security theater, there's no good reason not to allow people who want to travel by Amtrak from transporting (note: transporting, not carrying) firearms between places where they can legally possess those firearms, just like they can on commercial airlines.

[ejbrush]

21. Not to dredge up the distant past...

but prior to 2001 firearms *were* allowed on Amtrak, as carry-on baggage. I remember a lot of trips in the fall where the Empire Builder was packed, and I mean crammmed full, with goose hunters in camoflage and the downstairs baggage area was stacked with shotguns.

Now, I suppose if we revert to the rules that were in place nine looonnnng years ago, well, naturally we'll revert to the everyday slaughter and rampages on the nations passenger trains, such as the, um, ah, well then there's the time in, um, ah, when that train was hijacked and Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder saved Chicago, oh, wait, yeah.

Cripes. Here, let me give you a little advance practice for the next firearms related news article. Ready?

Booogity booogity booogity!

[Bustercat]

22. Last time I checked, no metal detectors...

...xrays, dogs or routine bag checks on Amtrak.

Hate to tell ya, but anyone who has ever wanted to bring a gun onto Amtrak to hurt someone has been able to do it the whole time, law or no law.

Why stop with checked baggage cars? Let people carry in the compartments.
Then those of us who abide by the law can actually protect ourselves. Maybe even protect you.



Unless you'd prefer we put airport style security everyplace people congregate?