Passengers Stopped For Bringing Guns To DC Airport Checkpoints More Than Doubled In 2021

WASHINGTON, DC — Airports in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C. region last year saw a sharp increase in the number of times Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers stopped people from bringing guns to security checkpoints, according to a TSA release.

In 2021, TSA officers stopped 72 guns at the region's three major airports, more than doubling the 30 guns stopped during the previous year.

While airlines saw fewer passengers and offered fewer flights in 2020 due to the pandemic, that was not the case in 2019, when 60 guns were stopped at the same three airports.

Here is a breakdown of how many guns TSA officers stopped at the region's three major airports from 2016 through 2021:

As recently as Saturday, a TSA officer at a DCA security checkpoint found a handgun in the carry-on bag of an Alexandria man. This was the third time this year that TSA officers have stopped passengers from bringing firearms onto flights leaving DCA.

TSA officers stopped 5,972 firearms at airport security checkpoints across the U.S. in 2021, which was up from the 3,257 found in 2020 and 4,432 in 2019. Approximately 86 percent of the guns stopped in 2021 were loaded.

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared at their airline ticket counter. Firearms must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided locked case, and packed separately from ammunition. The locked case must be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.

People who bring firearms to an airport checkpoint in the U.S. are subject of up to $13,900 in federal penalties.

Related:

Handgun Confiscated From Passenger's Carry-On Bag At DC Airport