The TSA found a record 6,542 firearms in carry-on luggage at 262 different airports in 2022, according to the agency's annual round-up.
Let's put those numbers in perspective: Out of 761 million screenings across the country, 8.6 firearms were found for every million passengers. Put another way, the TSA found one firearm for every 116,394 passengers.
Among the firearms found, the TSA said 88 percent were loaded.
Many of these airports were located across the U.S. South. These are the top 10 worst-offenders:
Austin and Tampa are both new additions to the list. They replaced Louis Armstrong New Orleans International and Salt Lake City International.
Yet southern airports weren't the only ones to see an uptick in gun-toting passengers. New York City airports reported finding 39 handguns at checkpoints in 2022, up from 26 in 2021.
Here's what happens when the TSA stumbles upon a firearm during a security screening. Airport staff will immediately notify local law enforcement officers, who then remove the weapon from the X-ray tunnel and contact the passenger. From there, law enforcement has some discretion based on local laws, but the TSA can in some cases levy a civil penalty.
The agency said it weighs a number of factors when deciding to penalize a traveler, such as whether the firearm was loaded or if there was ammunition accessible nearby. Even if a traveler has a concealed weapons permit, it added, firearms are not permitted in carry-on luggage.
All passengers must declare their firearm during the check-in process.
Authorities say a 20-year-old woman on her way to a friend’s house in upstate New York was driven to the wrong address and quickly shot to death by the homeowner.
Justice Department officials say the two men, U.S. citizens, were working on behalf of the Chinese government.
Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man in Kansas City, Missouri, has been charged with first-degree assault for shooting Yarl in the head and arm as the 16-year-old approached Lester's house, thinking it was where he needed to pick up his younger brothers.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's second-degree murder conviction for the May 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Mexico's navy has suspended a search for three Americans who went missing along with their sailboat off Mexico’s northern Pacific coast, the U.S Coast Guard said Wednesday.
Alabama law enforcement officers Sunday were imploring people to come forward with information about a shooting that killed four people and injured 28 others during a teenager's birthday party.
Next month, the IRS will release the first in a series of reports looking into how a publicly run system might be created.
The company got the OK on Friday from the Federal Aviation Administration. CEO Elon Musk is giving 50-50 odds of Starship reaching orbit.
Without citing a reason, the Delaware judge overseeing a voting machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News announced late Sunday that he was delaying the start of the trial until Tuesday.
“This has been an unspeakable week of tragedy for our city,” said mayor Craig Greenberg.
