More than 4,400 guns were found in 2019 on passengers attempting to get through airport security checkpoints on the way to board U.S. flights, and a staggering seven out of every eight were loaded.
Transportation Security Administration officers at 440 airports found 4,432 firearms on passengers or in their carry-on bags, an average of 12 guns found per day. The agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said 3,800 were partially or fully loaded with bullets.
“The continued increase in the number of firearms that travelers bring to airport checkpoints is deeply troubling,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement.
Gun seizures were up by nearly 200 from 2018, and they have increased every year since 2008, according to federal data. The number found last year was up six-fold from 803 gun seizures in 2007.
The Department of Transportation has not yet released overall air travel numbers for 2019. However, the number of people the TSA screened increased from 771 million passengers in 2017 to 813 million in 2018, one potential reason for an uptick in gun incidents.
Last year’s gun seizures are the most ever in the 18 years the TSA has been around. The agency was created by Congress following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“The most common reason we hear is that people forgot that they had their loaded guns with them,” TSA national spokeswoman Jenny Burke wrote in an email.
Of the 440 airports the TSA operates in, 278 reported finding firearms on passengers. As with last year, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport reported the most gun discoveries: 330. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport came in second place with 217 seizures, which was followed by 140 at Denver International Airport. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and Dallas Love Field Airport each had more than 100 guns seized.
“There is a proper way to travel safely with a firearm. First and foremost, it should be unloaded. Then, it should be packed in a hard-sided locked case, taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared, and checked,” said Pekoske.
Those who do not follow the law can be arrested and fined up to $13,333.
Passengers attempted to bring tens of thousands of banned items other than guns with them through security, including grenades, fireworks, and lipstick knives.
