The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • A2

2 THE BALTIMORE SUN NEWS SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2019 Twoweeks after the Baltimore Streetcar Museum reopened for the season, the Falls Road museum was forced to close until further notice after a train came crashing onto a small building that powers its streetcars. A CSX train traveling north on elevated tracks near the North Avenue bridge derailed Friday at about 3 p.m., when five cars plummeted to the road below. No one was injured, andno leaksor spills occurred, according toCSX. Crews worked overnight and through the day Saturday to remove the derailed carsanddebris fromthecrash, according to CSXofficials, and several cars that derailed had been removed by Saturday morning. CSX specialists assessed damage to the railroad infrastructure including the bridge and tracks and made repairs to restore train service in the area, according to the company.

CSX has several rail lines that pass through the area, and trains were running on themagain before noon Saturday. Workers from the Baltimore Depart- ment of Transportation were replacing a barrier along the tracks where the train derailed, said James Bentley, a spokesman forMayorCatherine Pugh. Belowthe raised tracks, aportionofFalls Road stretching fromnorth of the streetcar museum to its intersection with Maryland Avenue remained closed Saturday as work crews continued to clean up the site. Several cross streets in the area leading to Falls Road were also closed. Bentley said crewshoped tocomplete thecleanupalong Falls Road and reopen the street by the end of the day Saturday.

The Baltimore Streetcar Museum, lo- cated beneath the elevated tracks at 1901 Falls Road, was largely unscathed, but it sustained damage to a small but crucial building. Freight cars crushed the muse- George F. Nixon substation, a cinder- block structure housing a transformer that powered overhead lines that allow visitors to take rides in historic streetcars. Some of the overhead power lines snapped under the weight, and the derailment also knocked out power to visitor center, museum president John said. The substation converts the AC power the museum buys to DC power, the type needed to power its old-fashioned street- cars.

Established in 1966, the Baltimore Streetcar Museum has a fleet of about 10 historic streetcars from Baltimore, Phila- delphia The all-volunteer organization has offered rides on them since July 3, 1970. probably going to be a little while before able to offer rides said Robert Krueger, the event coor- dinator. lost our big Still, Krueger said, he expects the visitor center will reopen soon. The museum is typically open on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. from March through December.

And from June through Octo- ber, themuseumalsooperatesonSaturdays fromnoon to 5 p.m. a labor of love for a lot of people for many, many Krueger said. He helped build the substation decades ago as a teenager, he said. The equipment inside the substation buildingwas not damaged, said.He had not yet inspected the tracks on which the streetcars run to see whether switches and other pieces of the rail were intact. of the stuff we have down there we actually salvaged form the streets of he said.

Two railcars that went off the tracks Friday were relocated next to the streetcar tracks, where said they would be scrapped. The derailment did not disrupt service for Amtrak, MARC or Baltimore Light RailLink trains. CSX was not able to provide additional information Saturday about the cause of the derailment. The Federal Railroad Administration was also investigating. A spokesman for theNationalTransportation Safety Board said the organization was awareof thecrashbutwasnot investigating it.

twitter.com/sarahvmeehan By SarahMeehan The Baltimore Sun Streetcar Museum closed as derailment cleanup continues The Maryland House of Delegates is moving forward a bill that would require backgroundchecks for all purchasesof long guns, including shotguns and rifles. The measure is a priority of gun control advocates and, after receiving preliminary approval Saturday, it is set for a final vote Monday. The bill closes what some say is a gap in state law that allows private sales of shotguns and rifles without background checks. All sales of handguns and long guns from licensed dealers require background checks. saidDel.

Vanessa Atterbeary, a Howard County Democratwho is the sponsor. bill was initially much broader, creating a long-gun license and a registry of long-gun owners. But those provisions were stripped out by the House JudiciaryCommittee. got gutted, inmy Atterbeary said. Atterbeary said the revisedbill still leaves a loophole.

Maryland residents could buy rifles and shotguns inother states that require background checks and then bring them into the state. Still, she said, the version moving for- wardwouldbeasignificantpolicy improve- ment by requiring more background checks. Gun control advocates, including those with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Everytown for Gun Safety, have focused on the long-gun bill this General Assembly session. Some Moms Demand members wearing matching red T-shirts observed the House of Delegates session from the balcony. The man who has been charged with murder in the deaths of five employees at The Capital-Gazette newspaper office in Annapolis last yearuseda shotgun.Officials have said he bought the gun legally.

Jan Donohoe McNamara, an Everytown volunteer whose brother-in-law, John Mc- Namara, was killed at the newspaper, said a and shotguns are every bit as dangerous as handguns, and should never be sold without a background she said in a statement. Opponents say that the background check requirement is cumbersome and infringes upon the Second Amendment right to own guns. They argue that long guns are rarely used in murders and other crimes of violence, and therefore be further regulated. use long guns. They use handguns, for crying out said Mark Pennak, president of the advocacy group MarylandShall Issue.

thisdoes is create criminals unnecessarily out of completely law-abiding Pennak said gun owners have been selling shotguns and rifles privately for generations, and many may unwittingly violate the if it they knowabout it. Pennak said his organization will chal- lenge themeasure if it becomes law. A companion bill sponsored by Sen. Susan Lee, a Montgomery County Demo- crat, has not advanced in the state Senate. Atterbeary said hopeful the Senate will consider her bill once it passes the House ofDelegates.

twitter.com/pwoodreporter Bill for checks on long guns proceeds House gives preliminary OK for background checks on all sales of rifles, shotguns By PamelaWood The Baltimore Sun Baltimore lawmakers voted down legis- lation Saturday that would have allowed city school police officers to carry guns while patrolling in schools. The House delegation voted 10-5 against the bill effectively killing it for thisGeneral Assembly session. The vote was met with approval from advocates who have been pressuring lawmakers against the bill, arguing city officials should focus on providing more resources for youth, not arming police. appreciate the leadership of Balti- more City delegates who the legislation, Dana Vickers Shelley, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland, said after the vote. forward, we urge them all to focus on fully fundingourschoolsandbuildingapositive learning environment for the next generation, our Voting against the bill were: delegates Dalya Attar, Regina Boyce, Tony Bridges, Robbyn Lewis, Brooke Lierman, Maggie McIntosh, Nick Mosby, Samuel Rosen- berg, Stephanie Smith andMelissaWells.

Voting in favor were: delegates Cheryl Glenn, Curt Anderson, Talmadge Branch, FrankConaway andKeithHaynes. Del. Luke Clippinger was absent. All lawmakers areDemocrats. Sgt.

Clyde Boatwright, president of the school police union, has been a fierce advocate for arming the officers. After the vote, he noted that the school board, school police officials and the school police union all supported the bill. He said his force is 97 percent black and 70 percent of the officers were students themselves in Baltimore public schools. is an understate- Boatwright said of the vote. students and staff of city schools deserve better.

clear to me that some people that have decision-making power in An- napolis are out of touchwith the reality of Boatwright contrasted the 10-5 vote against arming city school police inside buildingswith the 9-4 vote on Tuesday in favor of an armed police force for JohnsHopkinsUniversity. shows the priorities of some people who are sent down to Boatwright said. voted against the public school students but voted to support a private Before the vote, Glenn the colleagues to support the measure as a way to protect school- children in Baltimore. She noted school resource officers in every other jurisdic- tion in the state are allowed to carry firearms inside schools. "Baltimore city would be the only jurisdiction in the entire state where our children are not argued Glenn, who is chairwoman of the House delegation.

Branch, who is majority whip in the House of Delegates, agreed, saying the armed officers are necessary in an age when mass shootings happen across the country. He also cited high crime rate. The city has suffered from more than 300 homicides each of the last four years. "There's plenty of violence in Baltimore Branch said. we have our school system sitting right in themiddle of all this turmoil andwedon'tprotect But Lierman argued little evi- dence that arming school police officers inside buildings would make children safer.

Rather, she argued, a shootout betweenagunmanandpolicecould leadto more deaths or injuries. "There's no data to demonstrate that having an armed guard or armed police officer in a school building deters active shooter situations or makes people Lierman said. After the vote, Glenn said she would consider whether to introduce the bill again next session. issue is so important that Imay try she said. Baltimore parents, community mem- bers and legislatorshave longbeendivided over the issue and it has become a perennial source of debate.

In 2015, another bill that would have allowed school police officers to be armed inside schools failed during the General Assembly session. The latest effort was second attempt this session to pass her bill. She withdrew it in January after the Baltimore schoolboardunanimouslyvoted tooppose the idea. But after a staff member at Frederick DouglassHighSchoolwas injured inaFeb. 8 shooting inside the school, the board reversed its position, and Glenn reintro- ducedher bill.

Undercurrent law, roughly100 school police officers are allowed to carry their gunswhile patrolling outside schools before and after class hours. But they are required to store theirweapons in a secure location during the school day. Baltimore is the only jurisdiction in Maryland with a sworn school police force. In surrounding districts, county police officers or deputies patrol schoolsandareallowedtocarry theirguns. The shooting at Douglass loomed over the debate in recentweeks.

Police charged a relative of a student with shooting special education assistant Michael Marks inside the school. The 56-year-old longtime staffer was seriously injured but survived and subsequently called for arming the officers. MarylandSenateRepublicans are push- ing a bill that would require city school police officers to carry their guns inside schools. But that legislation sponsored by SenateMinorityLeaderJ.B.Jennings,who represents Harford and Baltimore coun- ties has no Democratic co-sponsors. In Democratic-controlled Gen- eral Assembly, Republicans cannot pass legislationwithoutat least somebipartisan support.

luke.broadwater@baltsun.com twitter.com/lukebroadwater Del. Cheryl Glenn, D-Baltimore, speaks in support of her bill that would allow school police officers to carry guns inside city schools. measure fell after the delegation voted 10-5 against it. PAUL W. SUN MEDIA GROUP City delegates kill bill to arm school police ACLU praises vote, but president of the union says students By Luke Broadwater The Baltimore Sun GENERAL ASSEMBLY.