TSA confiscated record number of guns from airline passengers in 2022

Transportation Security Administration officers confiscated greater than 6,542 firearms from airport passengers in 2022 – the best quantity recorded because the company’s inception. Of these weapons taken at airport safety checkpoints, 88% have been loaded, the company introduced Tuesday.  

The confiscations by TSA mark a virtually 10% improve over the 5,972 firearms seized in 2021, which was additionally a report. 

The company introduced in December that it was elevating the utmost civil penalty for a firearms violation from $13,910 to $14,950. 

These have been the airports with the biggest variety of weapons confiscated final 12 months.

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 448
2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: 385
3. George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston: 298
4. Nashville International Airport: 213
5. Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix: 196
6. Orlando International Airport: 162
7. Denver International Airport: 156
8. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport: 150
9. Fort Lauderdale Airport 134
10. Tampa International Airport: 131  

According to TSA coverage, people toting both loaded firearms — or unloaded firearms with accessible ammunition — could face fines beginning at $3,000, plus a prison referral to regulation enforcement. Those with “aggravating circumstances,” together with a historical past of carrying loaded weapons into safety checkpoints, could possibly be pressured to shell out the utmost nice. 

TSA will grant civil penalty motion solely after finishing an investigation. If passengers violate state legal guidelines, TSA refers circumstances to native authorities. 

TSA can also be revoking PreCheck eligibility for at the least 5 years for any passenger caught with a firearm, and it routinely conducts “enhanced screening” for these passengers to make sure no different threats are current.

Passengers who want to transport firearms are instructed to comply with correct packing steerage for firearms in checked baggage, and declare them to their airline at check-in. 

“I am incredibly proud of our dedicated TSA employees who perform the critical task of securing our nation’s transportation systems each day,” stated TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “We had a very successful year that ended with the enactment of the FY 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which included funding to bring TSA employee compensation to a level commensurate with other federal employees, in addition to funding to expand collective bargaining rights for our non-supervisory screening workforce.”

Travel volumes returned to pre-pandemic ranges in 2022, in keeping with the TSA. Officers screened 736 million passengers, a mean of over 2 million passengers per day.