\n<\/p>\n
A man acting erratically on a train headed for Chicago was spotted by a rail worker who called police. Officers found guns and a pamphlet about crowd control in his carry-on bag \u2014 and a plan for a mass casualty event.<\/p>\n
Almost two years later, federal authorities say the man charged<\/a> with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump<\/a> at the White House Correspondents Association dinner<\/a> on Saturday was arrested with a shotgun and a semiautomatic pistol he brought with him to Washington, D.C., on an Amtrak train from California.<\/p>\n It’s just the latest security incident involving long-distance public ground transportation \u2014 and it won’t be the last unless Amtrak<\/a> and other companies find a way to address passenger screening and security at their stations, union officials who represent on-train employees say.<\/p>\n An Amtrak spokesperson declined to discuss security or to say whether Cole Tomas Allen<\/a> followed the company’s protocol for transporting firearms. Amtrak is working with federal investigators to provide his travel information, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n Amtrak requires firearms on its trains to be declared, unloaded, secured in a hard case and to meet certain size and weight requirements. Those weapons are only allowed in checked baggage, similar to policies for firearms being transported via passenger airplane. <\/p>\n But unlike airports where passengers undergo Transportation Safety Administration screening of their carry-on bags and their person, train passengers are not screened by security officials, whether they board at the unstaffed station in unincorporated Lamy, New Mexico, or at the bustling Union Station in Washington. <\/p>\n Sean Jeans-Gail, vice president of government affairs and policy at the Rail Passengers Association, said Amtrak and many other ground transportation companies barred weapons on trains and buses after 9\/11, but none put security measures in place to detect or screen every passenger for firearms. In 2010, Congress passed a law requiring Amtrak and others to allow firearms to be transported as long as they are checked. <\/p>\n In most cases, that means weapons are secured and placed on baggage cars accessible only by employees. But not every train has dedicated baggage cars. Several former Amtrak employees said when they don’t have baggage cars, the bags are zip-tied and labeled to show a firearm is present so workers can see if they are tampered with. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is a little hard to take a train hostage, to say it is different than the post 9\/11 concerns raised regarding an airplane,\u201d Jeans-Gail said. \u201cAmtrak has been safe from gun violence largely. The main incidents have been police shootings or interdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n Railway worker unions started requesting Amtrak and other companies look at security during the COVID-19 pandemic, when enforcing a mask mandate on trains was difficult at best. They asked again after an influx of participants<\/a> in the Jan. 6 riots<\/a> came to Washington by train and rowdy behavior on the way home raised concerns.<\/p>\n Jared Cassity, the national safety and legislative director for the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers \u2014 Transportation Division union, or SMART-TD, said Amtrak conductors and other on-train workers often don’t speak publicly about incidents for fear of retribution from the company.<\/p>\n \u201cOperator assaults are the most common conversations we have with our membership, but guns on trains is second or third in terms of concerns for workers,\u201d Cassity said.<\/p>\n SMART-TD has had some luck pushing state legislation and has two bills pending before Congress. That legislation would clear up jurisdictional challenges making it easier to arrest and charge someone when a rail worker is assaulted during a trip and would make interfering with a rail worker during their duties a crime comparable to interfering with an airline employee on a flight.<\/p>\n Cassity said the conductor who identified the alleged potential mass shooter in 2024 had just taken union-sponsored security training. He received some recognition but the arrest didn’t get much news coverage. <\/p>\n A 2022 fatal shooting on an Amtrak train near Lee’s Summit, Missouri, did get media attention after the train didn’t stop for staff to seek medical attention for the victim until it reached a station \u2014 delaying medical care. A federal jury said in 2024 that Amtrak should pay 90% of a $158 million award to the man’s family, who had alleged negligence including failure to implement reasonable security measures.<\/p>\n Michael Callanan, a former Amtrak employee and now a rail safety consultant, said he’s heard of other security incidents involving smuggling drugs and other illegal items because of the lack of security screenings.<\/p>\n \u201cThey never want to spend money on infrastructure or security,\u201d Callanan said. \u201cMaybe this shooter will be a significant enough of an event to push Amtrak to fund things.\u201d <\/p>\n Callanan said Amtrak police officers are not comparable to TSA agents. He said they are mainly charged with patrolling stations, doing track checks and sometimes riding lines and walking trains, but one officer can have a huge amount of territory. <\/p>\n \u201cThere’s one officer who I think patrols from Orlando to Miami,\u201d he said. \u201cSomething has to be done to increase security.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeans-Gail said the Rail Passengers Association supports increasing Amtrak police patrols on trains, but isn’t in favor of adding TSA-style security before boarding at the roughly 500 stations across the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thought of expanding that, even outside of the logistical issues, if you look at the experience of riding the Amtrak network it\u2019s very impractical because it ranges from New York’s Penn Station where it’s very active, many points of access to the station, unlike an airport where all traffic is filtered to specific points,\u201d he said. \u201cThen you have Whitefish, Montana, on the other side of the spectrum \u2014 a rustic structure with not a lot of traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n Cassity said that difference in security needs doesn’t escape him. The union isn’t expecting a one-size fits every station solution like airports, but he wants the conversation to start.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to change the narrative about safety and realize something has to be done to prevent guns from getting onto the trains freely,\u201d he said. \u201cWe sympathize with the challenge this is for Amtrak. … When you start talking about how you secure the most rural places, and those being the majority of stations, it becomes a daunting, daunting task. …But we need to have the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n