by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:30 AM ET, Wed January 15, 2025
The Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) announced that officers intercepted a total
of 6,678 firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2024.
Last year’s total was a decrease from the 6,737 firearms discovered
by TSA agents in 2023, which comes after the government agency unveiled the “Prepare,
Pack, Declare” public awareness campaign throughout 2024.
TSA screened over 904 million travelers last year, with
officers discovering 7.4 firearms per million people, a decrease from 7.8 in
2023. Of the 6,678 guns confiscated, around 94 percent were loaded.
“One firearm at a checkpoint is too many,” TSA Administrator
David Pekoske said. “Firearms present a safety risk for our employees and
everyone else at the checkpoint. It’s also costly and slows down operations.”
“If individuals who carry a firearm intend to travel, we
remind them that the firearm must be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case,
declared to the airline at the check-in counter and transported in checked
baggage,” Pekoske said.
While traveling with a gun is permitted when done correctly,
people who try to go through a TSA checkpoint with an undeclared firearm face a
maximum civil penalty of $14,950 in addition to any action taken by local law
enforcement.
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