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The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it found 3,269 firearms at airport security checkpoints during the first half of 2024. This averages to 19 per day and more than 94% were loaded. The good news (if there is any) is that this number is almost equal to what the TSA intercepted in the first half of 2023 (3,251) with 7% more passengers being screened.
In January, I wrote about the TSA discovering 6,737 firearms at airport security checkpoints and around 93% were loaded. This represents the highest total in the agency’s history and averages at 18 per day. Firearms were found in 265 airports and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) had the highest total. More than 858 million passengers were screened last year, which means the agency intercepted 7.8 firearms per million passengers. This represents a drop from the 8.6 per million passengers seen in 2022.
In the first 8 days of July, Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) nationwide intercepted 166 additional firearms. Firearms are prohibited at security checkpoints, in the secure area of an airport, and in the passenger cabin of an aircraft. This applies even if a passenger has a concealed carry permit or is in a constitutional carry jurisdiction.
TSA Administrator, David Pekoske, said:
During a period of record-breaking travel volumes, our officers are working hard to keep our transportation systems secure and the traveling public safe, and any time they detect a firearm, there is a real safety concern for frontline employees and travelers. If you carry a firearm, you are required to place it unloaded and locked in a hard-sided case in your checked bag and declare it to the airline when checking in at the airline ticket counter. Do not bring it to the checkpoint. It is costly and delays you and everyone else traveling in the same lane with you.”
No one is saying that passengers cannot travel with a firearm, but they must be:
- Secured in the passenger’s checked baggage
- Packed unloaded
- Locked in a hard-sided case
- Declared to the airline when checking the bag at the airline ticket counter
Anthony’s Take: I guess it’s good that the total is not going up with more passengers being screened, but check the firearms or leave them at home.
(Image Credits: Jay Rembert and TSA.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
1 comment
Think of all the firearms the TSA doesn’t find. Mostly ones that people forget are in their day-to-day land travel luggage. Yet we don’t see planes being hijacked or worse.