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With more people traveling last year, Transportation Security Administration officers stopped 5,972 firearms at airport security checkpoints across the country -- up 3,257 from the year before, said Lisa Farbstein, an agency spokesperson for the TSA.
Here's the kicker: Last year's amount was also considerably more than the 4,432 detected in 2019 -- even before the pandemic, she said.
In our area, TSA officers discovered a total of 26 handguns at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Stewart and Long Island McArthur airport checkpoints last year, up from 17 found in 2020, Farbstein said.
Each was discovered during routine airport security screening, she said.
Of the guns caught at 268 airport checkpoints nationwide in 2021, more than 85% were loaded.
"Under no circumstances are travelers permitted to bring guns through our security checkpoints," Thomas Carter, the TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, said recently.
"It’s 2022 and the law regarding the prohibition of guns in airplanes has been in place for decades," Carter added. "Let me be perfectly clear: Guns are not permitted to be carried onto planes. Not if they are loaded. Not if they are unloaded. Not even if you have a concealed carry permit."
You can travel with firearms only in checked baggage and if they're properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter, Farbstein noted.
Firearms must be unloaded in a hard-sided locked case that's packed separately from ammunition, she added.
The locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared. TSA has details on how to properly travel with a firearm posted on its website: Transporting Firearms and Ammunition (TSA.gov)
Civil penalties for bringing a handgun into a checkpoint can stretch into the thousands of dollars, depending on various circumstances, Farbstein said. This applies to travelers with or without concealed gun carry permits.
You can find the penalties here: Civil Enforcement (TSA.gov)
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