Last year, the Transportation Security Administration found an astounding number of firearms at airport security checkpoints across the country. The federal security agency located over 6,000 guns in terminals, a new record surpassing the record set in 2021. The American public is doing its best to make sure we break this record for the third consecutive record. TSA agents at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) have seized five guns over the past four days.
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WXYZ reported that the unusual uptick in firearm finds at Detroit Metro Airport began on Thursday, March 30. Before stepping into the body scanner, a passenger asked a TSA agent if she could hand over something she had forgotten. She handed the agent a loaded firearm. The next day, three guns were found over only a 90-minute period through x-ray screenings. All of the firearms discovered were loaded.
Bill Byrne, the Michigan TSA Acting Federal Security Director, said to WXYZ:
“Although it’s extremely troubling that so many passengers continue to make this careless, expensive mistake, the general public should feel safer knowing that the TSA officers in Detroit continue to perform their jobs exceptionally well and are stopping these firearms from going past the checkpoint. When dangerous items such as loaded guns are brought to a security checkpoint, it represents a serious security and safety concern. Remember that a concealed carry permit or enrollment in the TSA PreCheck program are not exemptions from this policy.”
Including the five guns over the last four days, 28 firearms have been found by TSA agents at DTW this year. In 2022, 100 guns were discovered at Detroit Metro’s security checkpoints. If airlines are notified beforehand, passengers can travel with unloaded firearms stored in hard-sided cases within checked luggage. Otherwise, armed passengers could face nearly $15,000 in fines.