Amtrak may ease rules on guns on its trains, sources say

Amtrak is considering allowing people to store guns in lockboxes on most of its trains, which critics say would weaken security measures that instead should be strengthened in light of the shooting at last weekend's White House Correspondents' Association dinner . Amtrak has been considering the policy change since at least early this year, after being pressured by Trump administration officials to ease restrictions on transporting weapons, two people familiar with the proposed plan told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about it publicly. They said the railroad hasn't abandoned the proposal despite Saturday's arrest of a man who authorities say traveled by Amtrak from California to Washington, D.C., with his firearms intent on killing President Trump and other administration officials at Saturday's event. Cole Tomas Allen was arrested after, authorities say, he tried to race past security barricades near the hotel ballroom that was hosting the dinner, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents. A Secret Service officer wearing a bullet-resistant vest was shot in the vest and survived. Authorities say Allen was armed with a shotgun and semiautomatic pistol that he brought with him by rail from his home in Torrance, California. …