RICHMOND, Va. -- Transportation Security Administration officials say they're on pace to break last year's record for the number of firearms found at airport checkpoints.
During the first three quarters of 2023, TSA officers intercepted 5,072 firearms at airport security checkpoints across the country, compared to 6,542 firearms all of last year.
The total represents an average of 19.8 firearms per day, of which more than 94% were loaded.
Less than two weeks ago, TSA officers at Richmond International Airport (RIC) stopped a Virginia man from bringing a .45 caliber pistol with five bullets onto a flight.
"The most common excuse you'll hear is that I forgot my gun with me," TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein explained. "The vast majority of those guns are loaded, so we're actually hearing people say I forgot I had a loaded gun with me. And responsible gun owners know where their firearms are at all times. And we just want people to be responsible when they own a firearm and they're looking to transport it for a flight."
Despite the national trend, Farbstein says RIC is actually seeing an improvement with fewer guns found at checkpoints, with 12 confiscated so far this year compared to 24 total last year.
Two hours southeast of Richmond at Norfolk International Airport, it's a different story.
Norfolk's TSA officers have confiscated 27 firearms so far this year. That’s the same number of firearms the airport took into custody all of last year.
If you want to fly with your firearm, TSA says the gun needs to be unloaded and put into a locked, hard sided case.
You should then take that unloaded gun and case to your airline check-in counter and declare that you want to fly with it.
The agents will make sure it is transported in the belly of the aircraft, where nobody has access to it during the flight.
"Our TSA officers remain very vigilant, whether it's a holiday season or not, and they do really a good job," noted Farbstein. "They're very good at reading the images on the X-ray monitors and detecting any prohibited items. The whole idea is that the TSA officers, all of us here at TSA, want to make sure that people get to their destination safely, and get home safely."
If you don’t follow this law and attempt to bring a firearm to the airport, you can be arrested or even fined up to $15,000. You’ll also lose TSA precheck eligibility for five years.
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