Throughout 2023, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) intercepted a complete of 6,737 firearms at airport safety checkpoints, stopping them from stepping into the safe areas of the airport and onboard plane. Roughly 93% of those firearms have been loaded. This complete surpasses the earlier yr’s report of 6,542 firearms stopped at checkpoints and represents the very best one-year complete in TSA’s historical past.
“We’re nonetheless seeing far too many firearms at TSA checkpoints, and what’s notably regarding is the quantity of them loaded, presenting an pointless danger to everybody on the TSA checkpoint,” mentioned TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Firearms and ammunition are strictly prohibited in carry-on baggage. Passengers are solely allowed to journey with an unloaded firearm, and provided that they pack it correctly in a locked, hard-sided case of their checked baggage and first declare it to the airline on the check-in counter.”
In 2023, TSA screened greater than 858 million people, which signifies the company intercepted 7.8 firearms per million passengers, a drop from 8.6 per million passengers in 2022.
Within the fourth quarter of 2023, which ended Dec. 31, Transportation Safety Officers (TSOs) stopped 1,665 firearms at checkpoints. The entire represents a median of 18 firearms per day at TSA checkpoints, of which almost 93% have been loaded.
When a firearm is detected at a safety checkpoint, TSOs instantly contact native regulation enforcement, who take away the passenger and the firearm from the checkpoint space. Relying on native legal guidelines, the regulation enforcement officer might arrest or cite the passenger. TSA doesn’t confiscate firearms.
Along with any motion taken by regulation enforcement, TSA fines passengers who carry a firearm to a TSA checkpoint with a civil penalty as much as roughly $15,000, revokes TSA PreCheck eligibility for no less than 5 years, and will conduct enhanced screening to make sure there aren’t any different threats current.
For extra info on learn how to correctly journey with a firearm, go to TSA’s web site right here. TSA additionally launched its annual checklist of Prime 10 Finest Catches, as seen within the video under:
