2024 saw a slight—very slight—drop in the number of guns intercepted at TSA airport checkpoints at U.S. airports. The Transportation Safety Administration found 6,678 weapons that passengers were trying to slip through, a drop of 59 items from 2023.
While the drop seems like, literally, a drop in the ocean, it actually does represent a rate change that can be measured, from 7.8 per million passengers to 7.4 per million, as the number of passengers screened rose from 858 million to 904 million.
What did not drop, however, was the percentage of the weapons that were loaded and ready to fire. That number went up from 93% to 94%.
TSA does not seize weapons or arrest the owner; instead the owner and weapon are removed from the scanning area and local law enforcement are called. However, violators can be fined up to $14,950, lose PreCheck eligibility and can be listed for enhanced screening.
