Senate Amendment Would Allow Guns in Checked Baggage on Amtrak
Bloomberg Brings Mayors, Members of Congress Together to Register Opposition to Amendment
By Laura DeKoven Waxman
September 28, 2009
At New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s invitation, Trenton (NJ) Mayor Douglas H. Palmer, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, New York Representative Carolyn McCarthy, and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly were in New York’s Penn Station September 20 to urge the House of Representatives to reject legislation that would allow Amtrak train passengers to travel with guns in checked luggage.
“This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment right to bear arms – and everything to do with keeping our country safe from terrorists,” Bloomberg commented. “The legislation allowing guns on Amtrak was passed because of ideological politics – not public safety. It sums up everything that’s wrong with Washington.”
“The NYPD formed a coalition among police chiefs along the Amtrak corridor to protect it against terrorist attacks,” said Kelly. “This is a wholly unnecessary obstacle to keeping passengers safe from terrorists and other criminals.”
The Firearms Transport on Amtrak amendment to the FY 2010 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill, offered by Senator Roger Wicker (MS), would bar the use of funds in the bill for Amtrak after March 31, 2010, unless Amtrak passengers are allowed to transport firearms in their checked baggage. It was adopted 68-30 on September 16; the Senate adopted the full bill the following day. That bill now must be reconciled with the House version in a conference committee.
Amtrak currently forbids passengers from travelling with guns. Its policies were put in place after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings. Complying with the provision would be difficult: Train stations, unlike airports, do not have systems in place to enforce rules governing the transportation of guns and do not have metal detectors or TSA screeners. Further, the measure does not include any funding for Amtrak to provide the additional screening that would be required.
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