TSA Stopped 6,678 Guns At Airport Checkpoints In 2024—94% Were Loaded

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In 2024, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers intercepted 6,678 firearms at airport security checkpoints across the country, according to the agency. All but 6% were loaded.

The numbers are down slightly from the previous year, when a record-setting 6,737 guns were stopped from being brought on commercial flights. The rate of interception also fell slightly—7.4 guns caught per million passengers screened, down from 7.8 firearms per million people in 2023.

Overall, the agency’s “Prepare, Pack, Declare” public awareness campaign, which ran throughout 2024 to educated travelers on how to safely travel with a firearm, appears to have delivered scant improvement. “One firearm at a checkpoint is too many,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a statement.

In 2024, TSA officers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport security checkpoints stopped 440 firearms, 11 fewer than the previous year but still the most firearm interceptions of all U.S. airports.

At No. 2, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport stopped 390 guns from getting on planes—a dozen more than in 2023.

Rounding out the top 5 were Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (272 guns, down from 311), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (247 guns, up from 235) and Nashville International Airport (188, no change from 2023).

Guns at Airports: An Upward Trajectory

Overall, the volume of firearms intercepted at U.S. airports has surged 152% in the past decade. During the same period, the TSA has seen a 28% rise in the number of air travelers, from 708 million in 2015 to 904 million in 2024.

Agency officials have in the past suggest a correlation with the rise in permitless carry laws across the country, a legislative priority for the National Rifle Association. Such laws are now in place in 29 states, according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA).

Essentially, the past decade has seen a significant rise both in the population of first-time gun owners and in new air travelers.

The prevalence of guns at airports varies wildly by region. For example, all three major airports in the Washington, D.C. area saw records for the most firearms detected in a single year. In total, the TSA intercepted 117 handguns during routine screenings at security checkpoints in the National Capital Area last year, an 11% jump from 2023. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport topped the list with 47 handguns caught, while TSA officers at Virginia’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport stopped a combined 70 guns.

Still, it’s notable that none of the major D.C.-area airports broke into the TSA’s top 10 for the number of intercepted firearms.

Meanwhile, in New England, only 48 firearms were detected by TSA officers at eight of the region’s airports in 2024. TSA New England screened more than 33.4 million passengers last year, for an interception rate of just 1.44 firearms per million passengers.

The Big Apple area was another bright spot. TSA officers stopped 42 handguns at New York City area airport checkpoints in 2024, an 18% decrease from 2023.

How to Legally Fly with a Firearm

Guns, ammunition and gun parts are prohibited beyond airport security checkpoints. But passengers may legally travel with their firearms, as long as “the firearm [is] unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, declared to the airline at the check-in counter and transported in checked baggage,” said Pekoske.

When a TSA officer spots a handgun on the x-ray machine at a checkpoint, all screening stops while local law enforcement is notified. “Firearms present a safety risk for our employees and everyone else at the checkpoint,” said Pekoske. “It’s also costly and slows down operations.”

The local police then takes control of the firearm and removes the traveler and the weapon from the checkpoint. Travelers caught with firearms at checkpoints may be subject to criminal charges in states and local jurisdictions that have stricter gun restrictions.

“In New York, somebody brings a firearm to a checkpoint, they’re going to get a perp walk out of the airport in handcuffs,” a TSA official told Forbes in 2022. “In a more permissive gun state, that’s not going to be the case. Local law enforcement may tell the traveler, ‘Hey, go lock that thing up in your vehicle and then come back and go through security again.’”

But regardless of local firearm laws, getting caught with a loaded firearm at an airport checkpoint carries a minimum civil fine of $3,000. For repeat offenders, the maximum potential penalty is $14,950.

In addition, a passenger caught with a gun at an airport checkpoint can expect the TSA to revoke TSA PreCheck eligibility for at least five years. The TSA may also conduct “enhanced screening for those passengers,” the agency says, to ensure no other threats are present.

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