Railroad Legal Issues and Resources (2015)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

160 Case 814 F. Judicial Denial of a Petition for Review 814 In Riffin v. Surface Transp. Bd.,767 the District of Columbia Circuit denied a petition to review an STB decision that rejected an “application for a certificate authorizing the acquisition and operation of a small length of industrial railroad track because [the] application refused any obligation to transport ‘toxic inhalation hazard’ products.”768 XL. FIREARMS AND OTHER WEAPONS OR DEVICES 815 ON RAILROADS A. Introduction 815 This part of the digest discusses federal, as well as state, laws applicable to firearms and other weapons or devices on railroads. Section B discusses the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act and its applicability to rail transportation. Section C addresses Amtrak rules on the possession of firearms and other devices on its trains. Section D summarizes laws that exist in numerous states that prohibit the possession and/or use of firearms and other weapons or devices on or near railroads. Sections E and F discuss cases against railroads involving firearms. Statutes 815 B. Applicability of the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act to 815 Rail Transportation With certain exceptions applicable to law enforcement, under the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act, it is unlawful for any person who is not licensed to deal with firearms or ammunition to ship, transport, or receive any firearm or ammunition in interstate commerce.769 767 733 Fed. 3d 340 (D.C. Cir. 2013). 768 Id. at 341. 769 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(1)(A)-(B) (2014).

161 Regulations 816 C. Amtrak’s Rules on the Possession of Firearms and Other 816 Devices on Trains 1. Prohibition of Firearms and Other Devices 816 Firearms and/or ammunition are prohibited on board an Amtrak train but may be transported in checked baggage. However, Amtrak prohibits the transportation, for example, of black powder and gunpowder-based ammunition and materials and devices. As discussed in this subpart, there are other items that may not be carried onto trains or be placed in checked baggage, including certain sharp objects.770 Article 817 2. Amtrak Policy Permitting Firearms in Checked Baggage 817 As explained in an online article, in 2009 Congress allowed Amtrak, a government- owned corporation, to follow the same policy used by airlines concerning persons travelling with firearms.771 Statutes 818 D. State Laws Regulating the Transportation or Use of Weapons 818 Directed Against Railroads Some states have statutes that regulate the possession, transportation, or use of firearms or other devices on railroads.772 In addition, some states prohibit firearms and other devices being directed at or near railroads. Section D discusses such laws in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Florida, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. 770 Amtrak, Prohibited Items, available at http://www.amtrak.com/prohibited-items (last accessed Mar. 31, 2015). 771 Manikandan Raman, Amtrak to Allow Guns on Trains, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES (Dec. 1, 2010), available at http://www.ibtimes.com/amtrak-allow-guns-trains-248972 (last accessed Mar. 31, 2015). 772 National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action, Guide to the Interstate Transportation of Firearms, available at http://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/articles/2010/guide-to-the- interstate-transportation.aspx (last accessed Mar. 31, 2015).

162 Cases 823 E. Denial of Benefits to a Former Railroad Employee Fired for 823 Carrying a Firearm Brotherhood’s Relief & Comp. Fund v. Rafferty773 involved the Brotherhood’s Relief & Comp. Fund’s (the Fund) denial of benefits to a former railroad employee who was terminated because of a willful violation of a railroad policy on firearms. An Alabama appellate court reversed the lower court in holding that the Fund had not acted arbitrarily.774 F. Railroad Not Liable When an Employee’s Gun Injures 824 Another Employee In Cluck v. Union Pac. R. Co.,775 a railroad employee was shot accidentally when a pistol discharged as the employee was unloading luggage from a van for the railroad crew. The Supreme Court of Missouri ruled that the employee could not impute liability under FELA to the railroad without showing that the pistol in the luggage was in furtherance of the interests of the employer’s business.776 773 91 So. 3d 693 (Ala. App. 2011), reh’g denied, 2011 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 384 (Dec. 9, 2011), cert. denied, No. 1110372 (Apr. 6, 2012). 774 Id. at 698. 775 367 S.W.3d 25 (Mo. 2012), reh’g denied (July 3, 2012), cert. denied, 133 S. Ct. 932, 184 L. Ed. 2d 724 (2013). 776 Id. at 27.