ATLANTA (AP) — The woman flying out of the Philadelphia airport remembered packing snacks, prescription drugs and a cellphone in her bag. But more important was what she forgot to take out of her luggage: a loaded .380 caliber handgun in a black holster.
That was one of 6,542 weapons intercepted last year by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at airport checkpoints across the United States. The number, about 18 a day, is an all-time record at US airports and raises concerns at a time when more and more people are armed in the country.
“What we see at our checkpoints actually reflects what we see in society, in society there are more people carrying guns today,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske.
With the exception of 2020, a year marked by pandemic restrictions, the number of weapons intercepted at airport checkpoints has risen every year since 2010. Experts do not believe this is an epidemic of would-be hijackers – almost everyone at who is discovered says he forgot he had the gun with him – but stress the danger that even a single gun in the wrong hands can pose on a plane or at security checkpoints.
Weapons have been intercepted from Burbank, California, to Bangor, Maine. But it seems to happen more often at larger airports in areas with more lax laws, Pekoske said. The list of 10 centers where the most weapons were intercepted in 2022 includes Dallas, Austin and Houston in Texas; three airports in Florida; Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Denver.
Pekoske isn’t sure if the “I forgot” excuse is always true or if it’s the natural reaction to being found out. However, he said, it is a problem that must end.
When TSA personnel see what they believe to be a gun in the X-ray machine, they often stop the tape so the gun stays inside the machine and the passenger can’t get to it. Then they call the local police.
Consequences vary depending on state and local laws. The person could be stopped and see his gun confiscated. But sometimes they are allowed to give it to a companion who is not traveling with them and continue on their way. Unloaded weapons may also be placed in checked bags if the proper procedure is followed. The woman in Philadelphia had her gun confiscated and entered sanction proceedings.
Those federal tickets are the TSA’s tool to punish those who bring a gun to a security checkpoint. The agency last year raised the maximum penalty to $14,950 as a deterrent. Passengers also lose their PreCheck status for five years, which allows them to avoid some types of checks. Before it was three years, but the agency changed the rules a year ago and increased that time. Passengers could also lose their flight and their weapon. If federal authorities can prove that the people intended to take the gun past security into the so-called sterile area of the airport, that’s a federal crime.
Retired TSA agent Keith Jeffries said finding those weapons may also delay other passengers in line.
“It’s a complication,” Jeffries said. “It’s a dangerous object, prohibited, and let’s be honest: you should know where your weapon is, for God’s sake.”
Experts and officials say the increase in interceptions simply reflects more Americans carrying guns.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry group, tracks FBI data on completed background checks for firearms sales. The numbers were just over 7 million in 2000 and reached 16.4 million last year. They rose even higher during the coronavirus pandemic.
For TSA agents looking for prohibited items, it can be scary.
In Atlanta, Janecia Howard was operating the X-ray machine when she realized she was looking at a gun in a passenger’s laptop bag. She immediately identified it as a “serious threat” item and police were notified.
Howard said she froze and feared the passenger was trying to get to the gun. It turned out that the passenger was an executive who was profusely apologetic and said that he had simply forgotten. Howard said she understands that traveling can be stressful, but people need to be careful when preparing for a flight.
“You have to be alert and pay attention,” he said. “It’s your property.”
On a busy day, some 85,000 people go through security at Atlanta airport, one of the busiest in the world. There, the highest number of weapons was intercepted in 2022, 448, although the figure was lower than the previous year. Robert Spinden, the TSA’s top officer in Atlanta, said the agency and the airport had put a lot of effort into trying to address the large number of intercepted weapons in 2021.
An incident in November 2021 reinforced the need for those efforts. A TSA agent saw a possible weapon in a passenger’s bag. When the officer opened the suitcase, the man reached for the gun, which went off. People rushed to the exits and the airport was closed for two and a half hours, the center’s director general, Balram Bheodari, said in a statement to Congress last year.
Authorities put up new signage to draw the attention of gun owners. A beacon above a control shows an image of a weapon in blue with a red circle and a line through it. Numerous 70-inch screens display rotating messages that weapons are not allowed.
“There is signage all over the airport. There are advertisements, holograms, televisions. It’s quite a bit of information going through just to try to remind you in a last ditch attempt that if you have a gun, do you know where it is?” Spinden said.
The Miami airport also tried to get the attention of the owners. The airport director told Congress last year that after breaking their record for weapons intercepted in 2021, they had installed highly visible signage and were working with airlines to warn passengers. The number of weapons intercepted dropped dramatically, he noted.
Pekoske indicated that signage is only part of the solution. Travelers are already surrounded by a barrage of billboards and advertisements and don’t always pay attention. He is also in favor of increasing the sanctions to get people’s attention.
But Aidan Johnston, of the gun advocacy group Gun Owners of America, said he would like to see the fines reduced because they are not a deterrent. Although he would like to see more education for new homeowners, he also did not believe it was a “great hideous crime.”
“These are not bad people who need severe punishment,” he said. “These are people who made a mistake.”
Authorities believe they spot the vast majority, but with 730 million passengers screened each year, even a small percentage that goes unnoticed is a cause for concern.
Musician Cliff Waddell was traveling from Nashville, Tennessee, to Raleigh, North Carolina, last month when he was stopped at a security checkpoint. A TSA agent had seen a gun in his bag. Waddell was so surprised that he at first said it was not possible, because the day before he had flown with the same bag. It turned out that the weapon was in the bag but had not been identified at the control. The TSA admitted to the mistake, and Pekoske said he was being investigated.
When he tried to determine how the gun he keeps locked in the car’s glove compartment got into the bag, Waddell realized he had taken it out to take the vehicle to the shop. Waddell acknowledged that knowing where his gun was was his responsibility, but he was concerned that the TSA had missed something so significant.
“That was a shock to me,” he said.
