A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee screens luggage at LaGuardia Airport.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The coronavirus pandemic is keeping many charitable travelers away from the airport this summer, but the Transportation Security Administration on Monday said it found guns in the bags for passengers at about three times last year’s rate.
The TSA surveyed about 75% fewer passengers last month compared to July 2019, but found guns at three times the rate at the same time last year.
The agency gave no reason for the uptick, but Jeffrey Price, an expert on air safety and a professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said the increased rate could be driven by higher gun sales in recent months than more efficient screening with fewer passengers.
Firearms background checks were 3.6 million in July, up about 80% from a year ago, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The TSA last month found just 15 guns per 1 million people screened, compared to a rate of 5.1 guns per 1 million people screened in July 2019. Eighty percent of the guns were loaded, TSA said.
“TSA is working hard to ensure that our staff and passengers are safe and secure while traveling during a pandemic, and yet we are noticing a significant increase in loaded firearms entering checkpoints,” TSA Director David Pekoske said in a news release . “Travelers need to understand that firearms items are prohibited at airports and in the passenger compartments of airplanes. No matter how hard we work to limit other risks at the moment, no one needs to introduce new ones.”
The TSA said recommended fines for violating firearms rules start at $ 2,050 for an unloaded gun and $ 4,100 for inloaded gun.
The TSA found 4,432 firearms in carrier bags in the US last year, about 5% more than in 2018.
Travelers are allowed to carry firearms in checked baggage when they are unloaded, at check-in declared with their airline and ammunition packed separately.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the exact rate of guns per 1 million people screened in July 2019.
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