Jean Clare Sarmiento/KJZZ
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The TSA intercepted a file variety of firearms on the nation’s airports in 2023, detecting greater than 6,700. That features 235 at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, which had one of many highest totals within the U.S. Officers say 93% of the weapons discovered at safety checkpoints nationwide have been loaded.
TSA spokesperson Patricia Mancha stated it’s a “fixed problem” to handle firearm insurance policies.
“We proceed to attempt to educate the group. However sooner or later it actually involves traveler duty. Vacationers ought to pay attention to what they will and can’t deliver to the airport,” she stated.
Mancha stated the TSA’s job is security.
“We need to stop an incident on a airplane. We need to stop anybody from inflicting hurt to others. And a part of that’s making certain that persons are not allowed to deliver gadgets that they will use to hurt vacationers,” she stated.
Mancha stated it’s troublesome to “pinpoint” why individuals deliver extra firearms to airports however stated officers suspect lax gun legal guidelines in sure states might have some connection.
When TSA finds firearms at safety checkpoints, the weapons aren’t confiscated. However native police are known as, and which will result in an arrest or quotation.
Along with any native penalties, passengers caught with a firearm at a TSA checkpoint face a effective of as much as $15,000.
