(Atlanta) A US federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration, intercepted 6,542 firearms at airports across the country last year, an unprecedented number.
This represents approximately 18 firearms detected each day.
“What we see in our checkpoints really reflects what we see in society, and in society there are more people today who are walking around with a weapon,” said the boss of the TSA, David Pekoske.
With the exception of 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, the number of weapons intercepted at airport checkpoints has increased every year since 2010. Experts do not see this as an epidemic of budding hackers ― virtually all violators say they have forgotten that they had a weapon with them ― but warn to take the situation seriously anyway.
Weapons were intercepted from Burbank, California to Bangor, Maine. But such events occur more often at major airports located in areas with more liberal gun-carrying rules, Pekoske said.
Airports in Dallas, Austin and Houston, Texas; three airports in Florida; and Nashville, Atlanta, Phoenix and Denver airports held the top 10 spots in 2022.
Atlanta’s airport is one of the busiest on the planet with approximately 85,000 visitors per day. 448 guns were seized there in 2022, good for the top spot, but that figure is actually lower than the previous year.
PHOTO BRYNN ANDERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A screen indicates that firearms are prohibited in the security area of Atlanta International Airport
Officials at several airports have deployed measures, such as messages on screens and holograms, to remind travelers that firearms are prohibited. The manager of the Miami airport reports that these measures seem to be bearing fruit.
Authorities believe they catch the vast majority of guns, but with 730 million passengers screened last year, even a tiny percentage falling through the cracks is a concern.
Based on US federal police data, the National Shooting Sports Foundation says that just over 7 million checks were made in 2000 for the purchase of a firearm. That number jumped to 16.4 million last year, after being even higher during the pandemic.