Currently, sportsmen who choose to travel by rail for a hunting trip are left in an impossible situation because of Amtrak prohibitions against checking an unloaded gun with their luggage. Conversely, these same gun owners are legally allowed to check guns in their luggage on our nation’s airlines. Why should federally-subsidized passenger rail lines be different from U.S. airlines? The Amtrak Secure Transportation of Firearms Act would require Amtrak to enact regulations similar to those the U.S. airline industry uses to regulate firearm transport on airplanes. The requirements would apply for any year that Amtrak receives a federal subsidy.
I agree that it's quite ridiculous for Amtrak to prohibit what is allowed on the airlines. What's your opinion? Do you think there might be a concern among the opposition of this bill that on trains the checked luggage is not as securely separated from the passengers as on an airliner? To me that makes sense, but overall I could support this bill myself.
Do you think this legislation might lead to the conductors and brakemen wanting to work armed? Remember the case of the airline pilot who allowed his weapon to discharge during a flight?
Do you think the major gun control groups tend to oppose any and every law which has to do with guns? Do they lose credibility for doing that? I would think so, but perhaps they're really concerned about that access question on the trains and about the increased possibility of accidents if the train workers do what the pilots did.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
