WASHINGTON - A Government Accountability Office study quietly released Thursday has bolstered a Republican senator’s efforts to force Amtrak's rail service to accommodate gun toting riders or face shutdown, Raw Story has found.
The GAO ruled Thursday that an amendment inserted into a transportation funding bill by Republican Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) was permanent law, erasing doubts that Amtrak would have to comply. The mandate would force Amtrak to reverse a longstanding rule banning passengers from bringing guns onto trains instituted after 9/11.
The ruling comes just one week before the cash-strapped rail service must report back to the U.S. Senate with a plan to provide for gun-owning passengers. Wicker's amendment would strip the passenger rail service of $1.6 billion in federal funding if it does not formulate a gun-friendly plan.
If Amtrak doesn't come up with a way to allow guns, the law would effectively shutter service to congested areas like the so-called Northeast corridor between Washington DC and New York.
“In our eyes this is a victory,” said Ryan Anniston, spokesman for the Mississippi senator who inserted the amendment into the $68.8 billion Senate transportation and housing and urban development spending bill in early 2010. “We expect Amtrak will comply.”
