NORFOLK, Va. — The Transportation Security Administration has noticed an alarming trend at airports across the country – passengers carrying weapons to security checkpoints.
“We have continued to see an increase of firearms year after year…and it’s not going up by just a few. It’s going up by hundreds,” said TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein.
Farbstein said the common response they get from people is that they forgot they had their gun in their carry-on bags.
“If you do want to transport your firearm for a flight, there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. And the wrong way to do it is to bring it to a checkpoint,” she said.
Farbstein said TSA officers have stopped more than five thousand firearms from getting onto planes. She said the agency is on pace to surpass last year’s record of 6,542 guns.
In Hampton Roads, she said TSA officers at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport have stopped one firearm so far this year which matches last year’s record.
At Norfolk International Airport, officers have detected 26 guns this year.
“And all 12 months of 2022, TSA officers at Norfolk detected 27,” she said.
Farbstein said several signs in airport lobbies and before security checkpoints remind travelers about properly packing firearms.
When asked if TSA is looking at more initiatives to prevent people from bringing guns to checkpoints, Farbstein said they also try to emphasize some strict penalties alike a possible arrest or a citation.
“Responsible gun owners need to know the rules before you get to the airport,” Farbstein said.
“Passengers may travel with a firearm, but it must be in their checked baggage,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Firearms are only permitted in checked baggage, unloaded in a locked hard-sided case and must be declared to the airline when checking the bag at the ticket counter."
"Firearms are prohibited at security checkpoints, in the secure area of an airport or in the passenger cabin of an aircraft even if a passenger has a concealed carry permit or is in a constitutional carry jurisdiction.”
If a passenger brings a firearm to the TSA checkpoint, the TSO will contact local law enforcement to safely unload and take possession of the firearm. The law enforcement officer may also arrest or cite the passenger, depending on local law. TSA may impose a civil penalty of up to almost $15,000, and passengers who present a firearm at a security checkpoint will lose TSA PreCheck® eligibility for five years.