TSA Detects Greater Number Of Firearms

The Transportation Security Administration is seeing three times as many guns compared to last year.

TSA said that it detected firearms in carry-on bags at a rate three times higher this July than in the same month in 2019, although passenger volume is significantly lower. 

TSA officers detected 15.3 guns per million people last month compared with 5.1 guns per million people screened during July 2019. “The rate is particularly alarming, given that TSA screened about 75 percent fewer passengers in July 2020, over the previous year’s volume,” according to the agency.

“TSA is diligently working to ensure our employees and passengers are safe and secure while traveling during a pandemic, and yet we are noticing a significant increase in loaded firearms coming into checkpoints,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Travelers must understand that firearms are prohibited items at airports and in the passenger cabins of aircraft. As hard as we are working to mitigate other risks at this time, no one should be introducing new ones.”

 Originally Published by the FAA here.