The TSA Intercepted 6,678 Firearms At Security Checkpoints In 2024

by Anthony Losanno

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Gun

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it intercepted 6,678 firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2024. This averages to 18.2 firearms per day at TSA checkpoints nationwide (more than 94% of them were loaded).

TSA Firearms 2024

The TSA screened more than 904 million passengers in 2024. This represents 54 million more passengers traveling than in 2023. In September I wrote about the TSA discovering 5,028 firearms at airport security checkpoints during the first 10 months of 2024. This means that passengers attempted to bring 1,650 firearms through security in the last two months of the year. The good news is that 59 less firearms were discovered in 2024 versus 2023.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) had the most firearms discovered (440), Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) came in second (390), and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) was third (247).

TSA Administrator, David Pekoske, said:

One firearm at a checkpoint is too many. Firearms present a safety risk for our employees and everyone else at the checkpoint. It’s also costly and slows down operations. If individuals who carry a firearm intend to travel, we remind them that the firearm must be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, declared to the airline at the check-in counter and transported in checked baggage.”

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

When a firearm is discovered at a security checkpoint, local law enforcement is called and they will remove the individual and the firearm from the area. Law enforcement officer may arrest or cite the individual depending on local laws. The TSA does not confiscate firearms. A maximum civil penalty of $14,950 and revocation of TSA PreCheck® eligibility for at least five years are other potential penalties.

Anthony’s Take: As much as people criticize the TSA and call it security theater, these findings are troubling and I’m glad that so many firearms were found before they were brought onto aircraft.

(Image Credits: Jay Rembert and Transportation Security Administration.)

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2 comments

Dom January 16, 2025 - 12:25 am

It should be an automatic $1,000 federal fine for trying to carry an unauthorized firearm or ammo through a TSA checkpoint. Non-negotiable.

Reply
DaninMCI January 16, 2025 - 6:41 am

Yet imagine how many of them they don’t find and there haven’t been any gun-related crimes on aircraft in the US in years.

Reply

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