DIA Among Top 10 For Guns In Carry-On Bags

DENVER, CO – Airline passengers tried to take a record number of guns, most of them loaded, in their carry-on baggage last year, according to a new report from the Transportation Security Administration. On average, TSA agents found about 12 guns, oftentimes loaded, at security checkpoints last year, for a total of 4,239 at the nation’s airports, including Denver International Airport, where gun discoveries were among the nation’s highest. Even a Colorado lawmaker was arrested at DIA for carrying a loaded gun in her purse.

The total number of gun discoveries at security checkpoints in 2018 was 4,230, up from 3,957 for a nearly 7-percent increase from the prior year, according to the report issued Thursday. In the past decade, gun seizures at checkpoints have increased precipitously, from 926 in 2008 to last year’s record.

A record 3,656 guns discovered at security checkpoints — 86 percent of them — were loaded, and 1,432 of them had a round chambered and ready to fire, the report said.

In all, guns were intercepted during security screening at 249 of the nation’s 440 federalized airports last year. The most firearms discoveries were at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where a record-setting 32 were discovered during the month of August.

These 10 airports led in firearms discoveries in 2018, accounting for a third of all cases:

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport: 298 (253 loaded)
2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport: 219 (193 loaded)
3. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 129 (120 loaded)
4. Denver International Airport: 126 (95 loaded)
5. Orlando International Airport: 123 (112 loaded)
6. George Bush Intercontinental Airport: 117 (115 loaded)
7. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport: 96 (80 loaded)
8. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport: 93 (76 loaded)
9. Dallas Love Field Airport: 89 (83 loaded)
10. Nashville International Airport: 86 (80 loaded)

In December, 2017, Weld County GOP State Rep. Lori Saine was stopped by TSA at the Denver airport with a loaded Kahr Arms 9mm semi-auto handgun in her carry-on bag. Saine spent the night in the Denver jail, after insisting she had "forgotten" the gun was in her purse.

It’s legal to travel with a gun as long as it’s in a locked case in checked baggage and it’s declared, but firearms, firearms parts and ammunition are not allowed in carry-on bags. Violators can face fines of up to $13,000.

Specific airlines may have additional requirements for traveling with firearms, so it’s a good idea to check on their policies before going to the airport, according to the TSA. Also, the agency said, it’s a good idea for travelers to check firearms laws in their destinations, since they may vary greatly from state to state.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske told CBS News he thinks the uptick in guns at airports generally follows trends around the country.

“I’m just going to guess here,” he said. “I think more people are just simply carrying weapons in the country and we reflect what we’re seeing around the country.”

CBS News said its investigation revealed some guns make it through security checkpoints. In 2017, police records showed at least three cases where guns went through an X-ray machine and still slipped by TSA agents, the news station said.

Pekoske told CBS he and “everybody in TSA is troubled” by that finding and the agency will “do everything we can to figure out why it happened.”

The CBS review found that in 63 percent of those caught with guns in the carry-on bags were white men. Most of the offenders ranged in age from their 30s to their 50s, CBS said, but guns were also found in the bags of an 84-year-old woman, a 10-year-old boy, a pastor and an airport worker.

Some other highlights from the report:

• Three smoke grenades were found in a checked bag at Nashville International Airport on Nov. 19;
• An inert grenade was found in a carry-on bag at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Nov. 27;
• A bottle of lighter fluid was discovered in a carry-on bag of a passenger traveling from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Dec. 12.
• Fireworks were discovered in the carry-on bag of a passenger traveling from Orlando International Airport on Dec. 13.
• Five replica mortar shells were discovered in the checked bag of an Orlando International Airport passenger on Dec. 1. We had to stop baggage screening operations until an explosives specialist could respond and declare the items safe.

The TSA also reported that in 2018, a record 813.8 million passengers and airline crew members — a 5.5 increase form 2017 — passed through screening checkpoint, with record numbers during the spring, Thanksgiving and summer travel period. Screening was up 5.5 percent from the year That breaks down to more than 2 million travelers a day.

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

By Beth Dalbey, Patch National Staff

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