The TSA recently released their 2015 stats and it’s been a record year.
The amount of guns “intercepted at airport security checkpoints across the US” rose by 20% last year. Officers discovered 2,653 guns in carry-on bags. Amazing…
Let’s look at some other 2015 TSA stats.From the 2,653 guns found at US airports, a whopping 2,198 of them were loaded. They were found at 236 airports which is an increase of 12 more than the previous year.
Here are the airports where the most firearms were discovered:
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: 153
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 144
- Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport: 100
- Denver International Airport: 90
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 73
The TSA shared some other 2015 accomplishments: (from TSA.gov)
- Screened more than 708 million passengers in 2015 (more than 1.9 million per day), which is 40.7 million more passengers than in 2014.
- Screened more than 2 million passengers in a single day 178 times this year.
- Screened more than 432 million checked bags, more than 1.6 billion carry-on bags and 12.9 million airport employees.
- Federal Air Marshals flew more than a billion miles this past year to keep travelers safe.
- Nationwide, 98 percent of passengers waited in line less than 20 minutes and more than 99 percent of TSA Pre✓®passengers waited less than five minutes.
- The TSA Pre✓® application program, which began in December 2013, enrolled over 1 million travelers in 2015, and reached a total of 2 million enrollees as of early January 2016. In addition to these enrollments, CBP trusted travelers — those enrolled in other trusted traveler programs such as Global Entry, NEXUS and SENTRI — are also automatically eligible for TSA Pre✓®.
- Forty-four percent of passengers screened in 2015 received some form of expedited screening.
I find it amazing that people keep trying to bring guns on planes as a carry-on. The TSA doesn’t mention if people were trying to sneak them through, didn’t know the law or just forgot a gun was in their bag but you’d think the gun owner would look up the laws and be more cautious.
Since I wasn’t really sure of the rules, I looked it up. Firearms are allowed to be brought unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container as checked baggage only! I think most of us would assume that guns could not be brought onboard a plane, even if they aren’t loaded! I’d call it common sense!
Find out more from TSA.gov here.
Rich A.- No biggie. If you read the second to last paragraph, I clearly state “as a carry on”.
“Rich A- Please let me know what my bias is? I am not against the second amendment or guns. Did I mention that I was somewhere in this post? ”
If I misinterpreted the last two sentences of your post that I quoted, I apologize. Your comment seemed to me that not allowing unloaded firearms anywhere on aircraft was “common sense”. One could gather from that that even in a checked luggage locked container in the belly of the aircraft should be unacceptable for firearm transport. Please chalk-up my comments as Upstate sensitivity to any anti-Second Amendment rhetoric. Culturally and socially, where each of us live are vastly different.
DaninMCI- Thanks for the insight. Have you ever forgotten a gun in your bag when going through an airport? If so, how is the situation handled?
Loco Wonders- You should tweet the TSA to find out!
Rich A- Please let me know what my bias is? I am not against the second amendment or guns. Did I mention that I was somewhere in this post?
“I think most of us would assume that guns could not be brought onboard a plane, even if they aren’t loaded! I’d call it common sense! ”
MW,
Common sense? Your bias is showing. I’m not surprised as the leading and very vocal anti-Second Amendment spokesman, Michael Bloomberg, was mayor of your city and used that position to advance his beliefs on those he governed. Even today, he doesn’t need to have a firearm (but he may own one) as his bodyguards are all well armed.
I wonder if the statistics provided by the TSA include actual guns only or if they include pictures of guns, clothing with pictures of a gun, toy guns, Star Wars light sabres, drawings of guns, and all the other silly things that that the TSA has done to keep us “safe?”
As a person who does carry a firearm at times and one living in a concealed carry (no-permit) state I can see how it would be really easy to accidentally leave a firearm in a carry on bag.
I’m a good example. I travel mostly by car for work with my trusty Swiss gear backpack. This week I am traveling in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota by car. Next week I’m flying to South Texas for work in that area with the same backpack. When I get home from my ground trip I have to remember to take my 9 mm handgun out of my backpack before I go to the airport. Seems so simple but a small black handgun in the bottom of a backpack isn’t that easy to remember at times.
I’m sure many anti-gun folks would see this as scary but it’s not that uncommon. Also if you look at the airports where most guns are found by the TSA it’s in states where carrying a gun is much more common. I’d be much more afraid of a person at the airport with at gun at JFK than at DFW for sure.