The Amtrak Secure Transportation Firearms Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, last month, I introduced H.R. 3789, the Amtrak Secure Transportation of Firearms Act of 2009. The bipartisan legislation will permit law-abiding gun owners to legally transport firearms on Amtrak trains--just as Americans have been able to do for years on our Nation's airlines.

Currently, sportsmen who choose to travel by rail for a hunting trip are left in an impossible situation because of Amtrak's prohibitions against checking unloaded firearms in the secure baggage car. Conversely, these same gun owners are legally allowed to check guns in their luggage on our Nation's airlines, of all places. Why the double standard? Should our federally subsidized passenger rail line have more restrictive regulations than air carriers?

The Amtrak Secure Transportation of Firearms Act would require Amtrak to enact regulations similar to those the U.S. airline industry uses to regulate the secure transport of firearms on airplanes. The requirements would apply for any year that Amtrak receives a federal subsidy.

I ask my colleagues here to support this bill.

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