Guns on Trains

Amtrak is going to have to allow passengers to bring guns on trains:

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.

I'm not sure this is that big of an issue. If you want to bring a gun on an Amtrak train there isn't anything to stop you other than your desire to obey the law. There is no screening of passengers on any of the Amtrak routes I've ever ridden. If you have a gun in your carry-on stuff you can just walk right on the train with it and nobody will bother you...as long as you don't take it out and start waving it around.  Guns on trains clearly hasn't been an issue up to this point, and I'm sure more than one passenger has had them with him or her.