TSA on track to break record of guns detected at airport checkpoints

WASHINGTON D.C. — The Transportation Security Administration has a warning for you if you’re starting to think about your holiday travel. You cannot bring your gun onto a plane in your carry-on.

This year, the agency is on track to break a record for the total number of firearms officers detect at checkpoints nationwide. Right now, Atlanta leads the nation with the most guns caught by TSA officers.

“We’ve certainly been busy,” Ron Mildiner, TSA’s Deputy Federal Security Director at Reagan National, said.

This is a record they wish they didn’t have to break.

“A lot of people haven’t flown in a while, especially because of the pandemic, and so they’re just a little rusty,” he said.

So far this year, TSA officers have stopped more than 4,800 guns in carry-on bags at security checkpoints nationwide. Officials told us in most cases, the guns were loaded with a bullet in the chamber.

2021 also broke records. Officers found 5,926 guns at airports nationwide. That breaks down to almost 17 guns every single day.

“The screening technology keeps getting better and better,” Mildiner explained. “We keep getting better and better at doing our jobs, however, it does seem that more people are armed, and it does seem like more people are trying to fly armed.”

They’re also armed with other weapons you’re not allowed to take in your carry-ons.

Mildiner showed us some of the items confiscated in recent weeks. They include, brass knuckles, some firearm replicas and ammo, tools and stun guns. One looked just like a cell phone.

Basically, you can’t have any weapons or anything that looks like a weapon. Mildiner said even a toy can cause panic on a plane. That’s a lesson Mark Jones and his son, who just flew in from Nebraska, learned with a toy dart gun.

“They wouldn’t let us load that because they said it shot a projectile,” Jones said.

While it was inconvenient, Jones understands TSA officers have a job to do.

“I’m glad they’re doing it,” he added. “You just worry about if they’ve got that many, how many have they not caught? Is there anything that’s really gotten through?”

There are civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint, which can add up to thousands of dollars. The complete list of civil penalties is posted online.

If you have questions about what you can take on a plane, use the ‘Can I bring?’ feature on the TSA website or download the free myTSA app, which has that same feature. You can also tweet your questions to the social media team at @AskTSA.

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