By Steve Neavling
The TSA is on pace to confiscate a record number of guns at airport security checkpoints in 2023 – and most of the firearms were loaded.
In the first six months of this year, the TSA intercepted 3,251 firearms at checkpoints, an average of 18 guns a day, the agency announced this week.
Of those, 92% were loaded.
In the first half of 2022, when the TSA set a record for the number of firearm seizures, the agency confiscated 3,053 guns.
“Anyone traveling with a firearm must follow the rules and pack it properly in checked baggage in addition to declaring it to the airline,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske said. “Passengers who bring a firearm to the security checkpoint present a security risk, and there are consequences for doing so. I applaud the work of our Transportation Security Officers for their dedication to our transportation security mission, ensuring these firearms do not get into the secure area of the airport and on board aircraft.”
Since 2008, the number of intercepted firearms increased each year, with the exception of 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, the TSA seized 5,972 firearms.
By contrast, 926 guns were seized in 2008.
The record seizures come as more Americans are carrying firearms.
In the past, Pekoske said most of the offenders likely forgot they were in possession of a gun.
A dirty little secret is that the disposition of these TSA gun cases is classified. These are not 18 terrorists a day that are trying to hijack planes, though that’s what TSA would have you believe. Bottom line – TSA uses this statistic to justify it’s bloated organization.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe that everyone of these people 3,251 people should be prosecuted. Today, only a minuscule minority of these cases are prosecuted, How stupid can you be to accidentally try to take a gun though a checkpoint? Each of these people should be heavily fined.