Amtrak may loosen its rules on bringing guns on board

Amtrak is considering a policy change that would allow passengers to store firearms on trains in designated lockboxes, according to reporting by Josh Funk and Claudia Lauer of the Associated Press.

Amtrak has been considering the policy since early this year after pressure from the Trump administration, despite the fact that the attacker at last week's White House Correspondents' Dinner traveled by Amtrak to Washington, D.C. 

At present, passengers are allowed to bring firearms if they declare them and let Amtrak staff lock them with their checked luggage. The agency declined to say whether the attacker, Cole Thomas Allen, followed its existing policy.

The proposed rule change would allow weapons on all trains, not just those equipped with locked baggage cars, opening up over 1,500 trains a day to travelers with guns, a significant change from the handful of long-distance trains that currently allow guns on board.

According to the article, Amtrak did not respond to questions about how they would determine who is legally allowed to carry a gun or whether local laws at the passenger's destination would permit them.