[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 27980]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        THE AMTRAK SECURE TRANSPORTATION OF FIREARMS ACT OF 2009

  (Mr. FLEMING asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. FLEMING. 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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