As the busy travel season rapidly approaches and the controversy over the long lines at airport security checkpoints across the nation continues to heat up, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found a record breaking 74 firearms—65 of which were loaded— in carry-on bags this past week.
This broke the previous record of 73 firearms set in April.
In addition to firearms, TSA officers also discovered a number of other prohibited items in carry-on bags, including firearm components, realistic replica firearms, bb and pellet guns, airsoft guns, brass knuckles, ammunition, batons, stun guns, and small pocketknives, among numerous other items.
During the previous week, May 13th through the 19th, TSA discovered an axe and a sword, as well as 56 firearms. TSA explained that these items not only pose a threat to security, they also slow down checkpoint security lines.
“Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the line is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested,” TSA explained in a blog post.
Year after year, the number of firearms confiscated by TSA continues to escalate. 2015 was a record setting year of firearms confiscations, with TSA intercepting 2,653 firearms—seven a day— in carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints across the United States.
This represents a nearly 20 percent increase over the 2,212 firearms discovered in 2014 in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the country, averaging more than six firearms per day. Of those, 1,835 (83 percent) were loaded. Firearms were interceptedat a total of 224 airports; 19 more airports than during 2013.
The number of hand guns found in 2014 represented a 22 percent increase over the 1,813 firearms discovered by TSA in carry-on bags in 2013.
Of the 1,813 firearms TSA screeners found in carry-on bags in 2013, 1,477 (81 percent) were loaded. Firearms were intercepted at a total of 205 airports with Atlanta on top of the list for the most firearms intercepted (111).
Firearms confiscated by TSA screeners at 199 airports in carry-on bags in 2013 was a 16.5 percent increase (257) over the 1,556 firearms — or more than four firearms a day — discovered in 2012. A whopping 78.7 percent (1,215) were loaded and dozens had a round chambered.
The number of handguns confiscated in 2012 was up from the 1,320 handguns discovered by TSA screeners in 2011, which in turn was up from the 1,123 firearms screeners found in 2010.
As in the previous four years, the majority of handguns found in carry-on bags were loaded and many had a bullet chambered.
“The transport of firearms by commercial air in carry-on bags represents a threat to the safety and security of air travelers. Through increased training in detection methods, our officers are becoming more adept at intercepting these prohibited items,” TSA Administrator Peter V. Neffenger commented in a statement earlier this year.
The continued escalation of TSA hand gun seizures comes at a time when the threat of homegrown Islamist jihadists also is continuing to grow, and attacks on airliners continues to be a target of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in particular.
In December 2015, “Destination Airport, and Guess What’s on the Menu?” was the title to the opening spread of the cover story about how to bomb passenger planes in the slick, professionally designed issue of Inspire magazine published by AQAP. Releasing the digital magazine on Christmas Eve was unlikely a coincidence; it was the 5th anniversary of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s Christmas Day 2009 bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it was on its landing approach to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.
The entire issue was devoted to inspiring lone wolf jihadists in the US and the West, and especially urged attacks on commercial passenger planes. A lengthy section provided detailed instructions on how to build a new bomb AQAP purports can be “hidden” not only on an aircraft, but also to blow up other targets with the intent of causing ripples throughout US and Western economies.
The successively record-breaking number of passengers trying to slip by TSA screeners with a handgun – not an insignificant number of handguns were what TSA says were “artfully concealed,” which raises the disturbing question: were these individuals deliberately trying to sneak the guns past screeners?
While TSA attributes the vast majority of the handgunsits screeners continue to confiscate to forgetfulness on the part of passengers who simply forgot they’d put a weapon in their luggage before attempting to board a plane, in those instances in which the owners of sidearms clearly tried to conceal their guns from security screeners — many loaded and chambered – nevertheless begs the question about the persons’ intent … and motivation.
"Unfortunately, these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent, which is why we talk about these finds,” Bob Burns wrote on the TSA Blog. Burns is a ten year TSA veteran whohas served as a Transportation Security Officer, Operations Watch Officer, instructor, training coordinator, Behavior Detection Officer and vice chairman of TSA’s first National Advisory Council. He also served as a Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Decontamination Specialist in the US Army and served in Operations Desert Shield & Storm.
As Homeland Security Today previously reported, authorities are clearly disturbed by the fact that more than a decade after 9/11 so many people are deliberately trying to take a concealed firearm — including handguns that are loaded or chambered — onboard a passenger plane.
The authorities added there’s no logical reason why someone would “artfully conceal” a handgun (or some other dangerous weapon like a knife or incendiary) unless its a premeditated effort to try to smuggle them past TSA screeners. They noted there’s been sufficient efforts to make the flying public aware that concealed weapons — especially guns — are strictly prohibited. It’s not a secret what people are prohibited from carrying onboard a passenger plane.
“I find it very hard to believe these are people who just simply forgot they were carrying a handgun … or a handgun that was loaded and chambered,” a government counterterrorism official previously told Homeland Security Today. “In these cases,” the official said, “I just don’t buy that these people just forgot … there was something else going on.”
The official expressed exasperation with TSA’s critics and members of the flying public who, he said, seem to believe finding loaded handguns in carry-on bags to be “no big deal.”
“This is completely unacceptable, I don’t care what excuses … people have — as for me, the ban on guns on planes has long been known, passengers should know this – more so [14] years after 9/11. In other words, there’s just no rational excuse whatsoever. Passengers saying, ‘well, I just forgot,’ just doesn’t cut it when we’re dealing with the level of escalation in [the] numbers of guns we’re now finding in carry-ons … especially with way too many that have a bullet chambered and ready to fire,” said a veteran TSA at a large metropolitan domestic airport.
Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality, but the increasing number of firearms discovered in carry-on bags is prompting some hefty penalties. In Georgia, starting June 1, anyone who brings a gun in their carry-on luggage could face up to a year in jail and a $100,000 fine if the firearm is caught at the security check point at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
Offenders are also subject to TSA civil penalties of up to $11,000.
