The U.S. Transportation Safety Administration says it has already set a one-year record for airport gun seizures in only the first three months of 2021, breaking the previous record set in 2019.
Through October 3, TSA stopped 4,495 passengers trying to slip firearms aboard in their carry-ons, exceeding the full-year record of 4,432 for 2019. The seizures took place at 248 airports around the country, with Atlanta at the top of the list with 391, followed by Dallas/Fort Worth with 232 and Houston George Bush with 168.
In 2020, only 3,257 guns were taken, the lowest since 2015, but that dip took place in a year when for many months air traffic was below 20% of normal, so the rate did not actually decline while the numbers did. The 2020 rate was just over 10 firearms per million passengers; the 2021 rate so far is 11 per million. In 2015, the rate was 4.6 per million.
