Jaunted

On one hand, this isn't as dumb as it sounds. It just brings Amtrak policy in line with what happens on airplanes: as long as your weapon is secured and unloaded you can have it with you.

On the other hand it's exactly as dumb as it sounds. In terms our politicians can understand: it's likely that they have neither the people nor the facilities to keep this from becoming a total disaster. We can't even imagine how a 13-hour delay goes down if the passengers are strapped.

The difference between airplanes and Amtrak is the difference between one of the most complicated albeit incompetent screening networks on the planet and, well, Amtrak. The United States rail system, for all its rustic "See America" ethos, is not the world's most cutting edge organization. This new mandate will force them to install a whole bevy of new security measures, all of which are going to be expensive.

We're sure this is a complicated issue and that there are probably arguments on both sides. But remind us again: why did this have to happen now? Is there an ongoing burning injustice that needed to be remedied by letting people carry unloaded and therefore theoretically useless weapons on trains? Is there a benefit to having Amtrak rush to divert funds from, say, customer service and train upgrades, to a new security infrastructure? We're skeptical.

[Photo: jmueller99]

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