Amtrak would lose its federal subsidies if it doesn’t put a system
in place by early next year to check and track firearms so that
passengers can legally put the weapons in their checked baggage, the
Senate voted Wednesday.
The measure, an amendment to the transportation and housing appropriations bill, passed 68-30.
The House version of the bill, passed in July, does not include the
provision, so further steps would be needed for it to reach President
Obama’s desk.
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Amtrak’s current policy prohibits passengers from carrying "any
type of gun, firearm, ammunition, explosives or weapon" in carry-on or
checked baggage. Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm said firearms had been allowed in checked baggage before the September 11 attacks.
However, despite the policy change, the company has no uniform system
of screening for firearms, Amtrak Chairman Thomas Carper noted in a
letter to Sens. Patty Murray and Christopher Bond decrying Wednesday’s
congressional mandate. They are the top Democrat and Republican,
respectively, on the Appropriations Committee’s transportation
subcommittee. – [source]
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