It’s been a very busy half year for the U.A. Transportation Security Administration, screening record numbers of passengers especially in the past few weeks—but it’s also been a very busy half year for passengers trying to slip guns past the security checkpoints.
TSA reports finding 3,629 firearms at airport security gates, 94% of them loaded and ready to fire. That’s a lot of guns, but with 236 million passengers, it comes to 7.5 weapons per million passengers. That’s a tiny glimmer of hope: last year, it was 7.9 per million from 221 million passengers.
To legally fly with a firearm, it must be unloaded, locked in a hard-side case in checked baggage and be declared to the airline when checking the bag. TSA doesn’t seize the weapons it finds, although it can impose fines up to $15,000. Local authorities are called to take possession of the weapons.
