With record numbers of airline passengers and more people than ever carrying concealed weapons, guns are increasingly showing up in carry-on baggage at the nation’s airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
On just one day last month, TSA officers found 21 firearms in carry-on bags. The haul on Feb. 23 broke a previous one-day record of 18 set in 2014. Of the 79 firearms discovered during that week, 68 were loaded, and 21 had a round chambered.
Gun discoveries at the nation’s airports jumped 28 percent between 2015 and last year when 3,391 firearms made it to checkpoints in carry-on bags, an average of more than nine per day. Of those, 2,815 — 83 percent — were loaded. Firearms were intercepted at a total of 238 airports; 2 more airports than last year.
TSA officers at Dayton International Airport had already found three guns in carry-ons by July of last year — more than during all of 2015. By the end of 2016, the total reached eight guns – all found loaded, according to TSA records
Concealed handgun permits have soared 215 percent to over 14.5 million since 2007, according to a 2016 Crime Prevention Research Center report. No permit is required to carry a concealed handgun in at least 11 states.
TSA officers screened more than 738 million passengers during 2016, an increase of more than 43 million in 2015. Officers also screened 466 million checked bags and 24.2 million airport employees, according to TSA.
Unloaded firearms and ammunition are permitted in checked baggage, but must be declared and secured in a locked case.
Those regulations didn't prevent 26-year-old Estaban Santiago, a passenger with a checked firearm, from allegedly gunning down nearly a dozen travelers in January at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Five people were killed and six others sustained gunshot injuries. A pastor from Beavercreek was caught in the crossfire and aided the injured.
Santiago claimed his bag, took the gun from the baggage claim area and went into the bathroom to load the gun, according to reports.
An average of 25 to 50 pounds of prohibited items are found each month at Dayton International, according to the TSA. The list of prohibited items is long, but in general, passengers can't carry anything that can be passed off or used as a weapon. The list includes handgun replicas, grenade replicas, anything that could pass as a liquid explosive, and anything that could be used as a weapon — even loaded cap guns, multi-tools with knives, blades and scissors with blades longer than 4 inches.
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