Federal authorities will begin June 1 cracking down on people who bring guns to the security checkpoint at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, even if they have a permit to carry a weapon, according to Britt Johnson, special agent in charge of the Atlanta FBI office.
Johnson said Monday the more aggressive approach was necessary because a change in Georgia law two years ago had created a "hole" that had the potential of weapons getting beyond the TSA checkpoint and into restricted areas of the airport.
The delay until June 1 to enforce the federal law allows travelers some notice that they will not have the option of retrieving their guns and taking them to their cars or giving them to someone for safekeeping, just because they may have forgotten they had a firearm in their carry-on luggage.
Georgia law says anyone who has a firearm when they get to a federal check point at the airport will not be charged with a crime if they have a permit to carry a weapon. They will, instead, be given the option of putting the gun inside checked luggage, leaving it in a lock compartment inside their car of giving it to someone else for safe keeping.
Starting next week, however, any firearms picked up at the TSA checkpoint will be impounded and the gun owner will be charged with a misdemeanor, which could mean up a year in prison and a $100,000 fine. Local authorities will still bring a felony charge against anyone who is carrying a gun without a permit.
Johnson said 68 guns were caught last year at the TSA checkpoints in baggage belonging to someone who had a permit to carry a weapon and another 45 were caught in the luggage of people who did not have a permit. It was an average of nine a month.
That average is continuing this year, Johnson said, with 22 guns found at the federal checkpoint in luggage belonging to someone who did not have a permit and another 26 in luggage belong to people who did have a weapons carry permit.
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