Firearms on the Auto Train to Florida?

[Old Glock guy 1,127]

Some background:

My wife and I are planning to travel down to Florida next month to spend some time at the condo in Jupiter that we bought last year, but have been unable to visit due to the damn pandemic.  We want to bring a lot of stuff down, and were planning on driving, but thought the Amtrak Auto Train would be a more relaxed way to travel.  I was planning on taking a handgun for concealed carry, perhaps a shotgun or two, and some ammo.

Seems that firearms on the Auto Train are a no-no, nor are they covered under FOPA, so I'm weighing my options.  One would be to just pack them up, put them under a bunch of stuff, and hope for the best.  But it appears that getting caught doing that would be a federal offense, so that's out.  We could always just go ahead and drive down, but I would prefer not to do that.  The only other thing I can think of would be to ship the handgun to myself, and leave the others for another time. 

Has anyone else here had experience with this?  Any thoughts?

[10X 3,296]

33 minutes ago, Old Glock guy said:

 

Has anyone else here had experience with this?  Any thoughts?

 

I shipped long guns to myself, residence to residence, years ago.  It worked pretty well.  The hardest part was convincing the local USPS office that it really is legal.   I went in with printouts of both the USPS policy and relevant federal law (sorry, it was a long time ago and I no longer have the links).  The printouts were necessary just to get a counter clerk to go ask a supervisor, because they are pretty much hard-wired to say 'no'.

[EdF 323]

I believe that to LEGALLY ship firearms from NJ, you need to have an FFL ship.  This may only apply to handguns though.  
You can check with Amtrak (directly or try to look it up on Google.  They may have a policy including a way to lock the guns up on the train ride. 

You can likely get away with putting them in a locked case in your locked trunk.  But, as noted, you may end up with a federal charge if caught.
Part of your problem is that, in NJ, you can't drive to the train station OR to UPS with them.

[10X 3,296]

29 minutes ago, EdF said:

I believe that to LEGALLY ship firearms from NJ, you need to have an FFL ship.  This may only apply to handguns though.  
You can check with Amtrak (directly or try to look it up on Google.  They may have a policy including a way to lock the guns up on the train ride. 

I'd read some years ago that Amtrak did not have any mechanism to secure guns to their liking, so no means exists to transport on the Autotrain.   No direct experience, though.

The magic of shipping guns to yourself is that NO INTERSTATE TRANSFER TAKES PLACE.   You send them, you're there to receive them.   They move, but they aren't transferred in the legal sense.   It doesn't work if there are different parties involved, of course.

I'm not sure how it works in this crazy state with handguns; I think you can ship them to a gunsmith, or back to the manufacturer, without going through an FFL (If I'm wrong, those more knowledgeable will chime in), but I don't recall discussion of the legality of transporting from home to the shipper for purposes of shipping them to yourself in another state.

[EdF 323]

8 minutes ago, 10X said:

II'm not sure how it works in this crazy state with handguns; I think you can ship them to a gunsmith, or back to the manufacturer, without going through an FFL 

I have a Beretta that needs some recall work.  Living in NJ, Beretta told me that I need to take it too an FFL and have them ship it to them and that it will be returned to the FFL for me to pick up.  They might be wrong but here is no legal way for me to drive a handgun to a UPS store or the post office.

[EdF 323]

Actually . . . Typing "amtrak and guns" into Google provided this in the first few entries on page one . . . 

https://www.amtrak.com/firearms-in-checked-baggage

It appears that you can carry guns in checked baggage by following a few simple rules.  If you are bringing handguns, you may be breaking the law by driving them to the train station but I suppose that you can claim that you are traveling from one home to another so you are actually driving home with them.  Not sure how all of that will work out.

[Danno 127]

Your first mistake is thinking the autotrain is a relaxing way to travel!! If the SLIGHTEST thing goes wrong it turns into a total cluster #uck. 

[Redeye65 162]

4 hours ago, EdF said:

I have a Beretta that needs some recall work.  Living in NJ, Beretta told me that I need to take it too an FFL and have them ship it to them and that it will be returned to the FFL for me to pick up.  They might be wrong but here is no legal way for me to drive a handgun to a UPS store or the post office.

I just shipped my wife’s M&P .380 back to Smith & Wesson for recall work, S&W emailed me a FedEx label, had to call for a pick up at home or from a daily pickup location, I mailed it from work. The only thing I had to do was inform the driver it was an unloaded hand gun so he could put it in a special compartment in the van. Using a fedex drop box was a no no. The driver even thanked me saying, most people don’t inform them it’s a firearm. 

[brucin 923]

1 hour ago, EdF said:

Actually . . . Typing "amtrak and guns" into Google provided this in the first few entries on page one . . . 

https://www.amtrak.com/firearms-in-checked-baggage

It appears that you can carry guns in checked baggage by following a few simple rules.  If you are bringing handguns, you may be breaking the law by driving them to the train station but I suppose that you can claim that you are traveling from one home to another so you are actually driving home with them.  Not sure how all of that will work out.

Make sure to check if the train you plan on traveling on checks baggage. I looked into this a few years ago to go to Oregon and one of the trains did not do checked bags so it put the kabosh on the train trip.

[67gtonut 847]

I believe the Auto Train does not fall under the same rules as a normal Amtrak....

I looked into this years ago..... no real way to bring firearms on the Auto Train..... you can risk burying them in the luggage that is staying in the car..... and some people say they use dogs to check the vehicles. My wife has used the Auto Train a few times and never saw any dogs....

Not worth the risk....

[siderman 1,137]

2 hours ago, Danno said:

Your first mistake is thinking the autotrain is a relaxing way to travel!! If the SLIGHTEST thing goes wrong it turns into a total cluster #uck. 

Oh yea. First depending where you live In NJ can take 5 hrs just to drive there and up to several hrs to load the car but there is an up charge option for one of the first on/ off. Hopefully weather and traffic co-operate for the ride down too. Then if your lucky the next shift engineer shows up when and where he's supposed to, cost my wife several more hrs because of that. Yrs ago I was on one and the train missed a stop! Had to backtrack an hr and lost time for that. If you have some extra coin get a cabin vs the cattle car seating the whole trip. Besides, when driving to FL the worst part of the trip is the 95 corridor from NJ down to about where you pick up the train. Typically clean sailing after that. Also most likely will need to mask up the whole ride.

[124gr9mm 859]

13 hours ago, siderman said:

Oh yea. First depending where you live In NJ can take 5 hrs just to drive there and up to several hrs to load the car but there is an up charge option for one of the first on/ off. Hopefully weather and traffic co-operate for the ride down too. Then if your lucky the next shift engineer shows up when and where he's supposed to, cost my wife several more hrs because of that. Yrs ago I was on one and the train missed a stop! Had to backtrack an hr and lost time for that. If you have some extra coin get a cabin vs the cattle car seating the whole trip. Besides, when driving to FL the worst part of the trip is the 95 corridor from NJ down to about where you pick up the train. Typically clean sailing after that. Also most likely will need to mask up the whole ride.

I took the Auto-Train to FL once and it was definitely more of a pain in the ass than simply driving.

As the others have said, you have to wake up very early and make the 5+ hour drive to Lorton, VA in time to meet the loading schedule, then find something to do for a few hours until you depart.

You then sit in a very uncomfortable train seat for 17+ hours with masked COVID people around you and the train slowly churns on.  Sleep is challenging because of train noises/movement and the cramped, uncomfortable conditions. When you arrive you then wait for an eternity to get your car and drive 2 1/2+ hours to your final destination.

Presuming you'll be spending at least a week in FL I'd say drive it.  Wake up early like you would have for the auto-train and drive to SC and grab a hotel for the night.  Wake up early the next morning and finish the rest of the trip.  If you do the math it will probably be a wash from a time perspective.

Yes, a bit more mileage on the vehicle and extra fuel costs, but the train isn't cheap.

[NickySantoro 211]

A friend lives here in Oakland and has a condo in the Fort Myers area. He took the auto train once. Said it was a giant PITA. Now they drive and allow two days.

[EdF 323]

Well . . . Some people seem to love the auto train (like my parents) and others do not (most of the people here) . . . 

After a little more research, the auto train does NOT allow for checked baggage because you leave it in your car.  Therefore, weapons are a no no.  Of course, you can very likely get away with it.

I don't know about other options for shipping your car and taking an Amtrak train that accepts checked baggage.