Yahoo Finance Guns found more often at airport security in 2020 than any other year, TSA says
Transportation Security Administration officers detected guns at a “significantly higher rate” in 2020 than any other year since the agency was formed 19 years ago, with twice as many firearms found per million passengers passing through airport security compared to 2019.
About 10 guns per million flyers were found either on passengers or in their carry-on bags — which is illegal in every state — at 234 airports nationwide. In comparison, about 5 guns per million passengers screened were found in 2019, according to a TSA news release.
In total, 3,257 guns were discovered at security checkpoints nationwide in 2020, even though the amount of flyers dropped by 500 million compared to 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic. About 83% of the firearms were loaded.
In 2019, TSA officers stopped 4,432 guns, of which 87% were loaded.
“Firearms are strictly prohibited onboard planes in the passenger cabin,” Darby LaJoye, the senior official performing the duties of TSA Administrator, said. “Bringing a firearm to a TSA security checkpoint poses a serious risk to TSA officer and passenger safety, and doing so may result in significant fines or arrest.”
The five airports with the most guns discovered at security checkpoints in 2020 were Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona, and Denver International Airport in Colorado.
The other states with airports seeing the most detected guns at security checkpoints were Tennessee, Florida, Nevada and Utah, in that order.
This graphic is a great snapshot in understanding the data about the number of guns caught at @TSA checkpoints nationwide in 2020. pic.twitter.com/NH6I4uinRN
— Lisa Farbstein, TSA Spokesperson (@TSA_Northeast) January 26, 2021
The news follows recent reports of surging gun sales across the country fueled by what some say is fear and uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, presidential election and racial justice riots.
“The word was food was going to be in short supply, gas was going to be in short supply, and we need guns to defend food and gas,” Clay Ausley, owner of gun shop Fuquay Gun & Gold in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, told The News & Observer. “Then we had unrest in the streets and business owners started buying guns, saying, ‘If the police aren’t going to defend my property, I’m going to defend it.’”
Another store in the state saw firearm sales quadruple in 2020, according to the newspaper.
An estimated 110,000 people also bought guns in California during the pandemic, including about 47,000 new owners, McClatchy News reported from a study published in October.
The research found that gun storage changed from previous years, too. Nearly 7% of firearm owners started storing their guns loaded and not locked solely because of pandemic-related fears.
What’s more, the FBI discovered a record 3.9 million background checks associated with firearm sales in June 2020 — the most of any month since the bureau began tracking the data in 1998, McClatchy News reported in August.
The TSA says airline passengers can fly with guns only if they are properly placed in checked baggage and declared during check-in. Airline companies may also have their own additional requirements for traveling with firearms and ammunition. Laws can vary by state and locality.
