Washington, D.C. –-(Ammoland.com)- Airlines have been hit hard with a steep drop in passengers, with Americans traveling less than they have in years due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. With fewer people in the country flying, you would think guns confiscated at airports would be at an all-time low rate, but that isn’t the case.
According to a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) press release, the agency found firearms at double the rate the agents found in 2019. TSA officers discovered 3,257 passengers carrying guns on their person or in their carry-on bags. Of these discovered firearms, flyers had 83% of these guns loaded. The rate of passengers caught with firearms by TSA agents in 2020 was the highest in the agency’s 19-year history.
In 2019, the agency recovered 4,432 firearms from flyers, but agents screened 500 million fewer passengers in 2020. The stats broke down to 5 guns per million flyers in 2019 and 10 firearms per million travelers in 2020. The TSA did not include toys, replicas, improperly checked firearms or BB guns in its stats.
“I commend our officers for their commitment to TSA’s security mission by identifying and stopping these weapons at the TSA checkpoints. Firearms are strictly prohibited on board planes in the passenger cabin,” said Senior Official Performing the Duties of TSA Administrator Darby LaJoye. “Bringing a firearm to a TSA security checkpoint poses a serious risk to TSA officer and passenger safety, and doing so may result in significant fines or arrest.”
TSA agents stopping passengers with firearms took place at 234 of the country’s busiest airports. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) topped the list with the TSA finding 220 passengers with guns in 2020. The Georgia airport happens to be the nation’s most-used airport and is the central hub for airline giant Delta, Frontier, and Southwest airlines.
According to the TSA, local law enforcement is the one that decides if charges are filed against passengers who brings a gun to a TSA checkpoint. The federal agency will, however, make the traveler pay civil penalties for the transgression. The penalty assessed by the TSA depends on several key factors. These factors include if the traveler has been caught previously with a gun at a TSA check and how many times, they have violated the law. Each time a traveler is found with a gun at a TSA checkpoint, the penalty against the passenger increases. Also, the civil penalty lodged by the TSA is larger if the firearm is loaded.
It is not illegal for a flyer to travel by plane with a firearm, but the traveler must declare the gun at the airline check-in counter, and the firearm must be stored in the traveler’s checked bag. The firearm also cannot be loaded and must be in a TSA approved locked hard-sided case. Ammunition must be in the original box but can be in the same locked hard-sided case.
There are 8.4 million new gun owners in the United States. It might be new owners not knowing the laws governing flying with a firearm.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
If you are under 60 and did not go to parochial school you have probably never heard these words: With every right comes responsibility. So here is the gig. How does one go an entire adult life, say age 17 on without ever having a negligent discharge? How does one command rifle platoons and companies in combat without ever having negligent discharges or losing weapons? How does one carry a firearm every day without ever transgressing such as folks who “forget” to take their gun out of their belts or purses and put them in TSA approved cases for air… Read more »
Trying to carry firearms on an commercial aircraft? I’m paranoid about carrying one in my car. The government doesn’t trust its citizens and their actions bear this out. Fortunately our 2nd Amendment so far keeps these vipers from total restriction but democrats are relentless.
Is this press release just another rally cry by the anti-gun administration that just took over the government to further their upcoming demand for more stricter gun laws, or is it a department just patting themselves on the back in order to get more funding for their budget. Anyone who owns a firearm should have know what the rules are about flying with a gun, the TSA have for years limited what can be carried on an airline, from open tubes of toothpaste, nail clippers,etc…. Mistakes do happen, but carrying a firearm comes with thought and care and being in… Read more »
Going by percentages again. If the actual number of guns found stayed exactly the same as the year before, but the number of passengers decreased, then of course the RATE would go up.
Just like the lie they tell that gun ownership is going down, when it reality the actual number is going up. They go by the number of households with guns which rises slower than the total number of households.
It’s all how the data gets manipulated.
Bringing a firearm to a TSA security checkpoint poses a serious risk ONLY when those having them are up to no good. When one crries a firearm daily everywher, it is difficult to realise sometimgs that it can’t be carried HERE. This is fear mongering and grandstanding by TSA. “SEE??!?? We are keeping everyone SO SAAAAAAAAAFE. Bow down to us.” I know folks who have almost gotten nabbed on this one, remembering at the last minute that their gun HERE is a no no. Not because it poses any more danger than that gun has posed in the last week,… Read more »
The Govt. (TSA) workers have already proved how inapt they are at screening, now that there is 60-70% less people flying but no reduction in workers obviously they might stumble across more in the X-ray during there fakebook posts!