NORFOLK, Va. — Transportation Security Administration workers seized a record number of guns from passengers at Virginia airports in 2021.
Lisa Farbstein, the spokeswoman for TSA, said officers found 98 handguns at checkpoints in the commonwealth. That's a huge jump from 2020 -- TSA officers found 55 guns at airports that year, and that was Virginia's previous record high.
Of the 98 guns, 30 were confiscated at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and 19 were taken from passengers at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Locally, TSA officers stopped 23 guns at Norfolk International Airport (ORF), which is almost double the number of guns found there the previous year. In 2020, TSA officers only found 12 guns at ORF.
Agents didn't find any guns at Newport News-Williamsburg Regional Airport (PHF) in 2021. It's the second year in a row that TSA agents didn't find any guns there.
Farbstein said, as a trend, there were more guns found at airports nationwide in 2021. The numbers were even up from 2019's pre-pandemic levels.
In all, she said about 86% of the guns they confiscated in airports were loaded.
"TSA officers continued their overall vigilance in protecting our nation’s transportation systems in 2021, in spite of the pandemic, including catching other prohibited items at the checkpoints," she said.
It's possible to transport guns by plane, but they have to be unloaded, locked in a case, packed in "checked" baggage and you have to let someone at the airport ticket counter know you're shipping a gun.
If you have questions about what's allowed on flights, you can check the TSA website or tweet questions to @AskTSA.