More Than 90 Firearms Discovered at ATL Airport Checkpoints This Year

Image: Some of the guns confiscated nationally by TSA. So far this year, TSA has found 92 firearms at Atlanta checkpoints.

TSA personnel at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are discovering more and more firearms at their checkpoints this year, a spokesman revealed Friday.

Since January, TSA agents have found 92 firearms in Atlanta’s security checkpoints, the highest January to July total for any airport ever, said regional spokesman Mark Howell. The mid-year total is almost as high as 2014’s year-end total of 104 firearms detected at Atlanta’s checkpoints, Howell added.

The TSA has provided the following information on how passengers can properly travel with weapons and ammunition on commercial aviation flights:

• Travelers must declare all firearms to the airline during the ticket counter check-in process.
• The firearm must be unloaded.
• The firearm must be in a hard-sided container.
• The container must be locked. A locked container is defined as one that completely secures the firearm from being accessed. Locked cases that can be pulled open with little effort cannot be brought aboard the aircraft.
• If firearms are not properly declared or packed, TSA will provide the bag to law enforcement for resolution with the airline. If the issue is resolved, law enforcement will release the bag to TSA so screening may be completed.
• TSA must resolve all alarms of checked luggage. If a locked case containing a firearm alarms, TSA will contact the airline, who will make a reasonable attempt to contact the owner and advise the passenger to go to the screening location. If contact is not made, the container will not be placed on the aircraft.
• If a locked container alarms during screening and is not marked as containing a declared firearm, TSA will cut the lock in order to resolve the alarm.
• Travelers should remain in the area designated by the aircraft operator or TSA representative to take the key back after the container is cleared for transportation.
• Travelers must securely pack any ammunition in fiber (such as cardboard), wood or metal boxes or other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition.
• Firearm magazines and ammunition clips must be securely boxed or included within a hard-sided case containing an unloaded firearm.
• Small arms ammunition, including ammunition not exceeding .75 caliber for a rifle or pistol and shotgun shells of any gauge, may be carried in the same hard-sided case as the firearm, as long as it follows the packing guidelines described above.
• TSA prohibits black powder or percussion caps used with black powder.
• There are certain limited exceptions for law enforcement officers who may fly armed by meeting the requirements of Title 49 CFR § 1544.219. Law enforcement officers should read our policies on traveling with guns.

Firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson have become a hot button issue since earlier this year, when a man walked around the unsecured portion of the airport with a rifle slung across his chest.

Winder resident Jim Cooley was simply dropping off his daughter at the airport for the start of her vacation on May 28, but was carrying an AR-15 slung across his chest for protection. Cooley said he was approached by Atlanta police, who first questioned whether he had a permit for the weapon, then followed him to his car as he left with his wife.

11 Alive News reports that Cooley was confronted by officers inside the airport, but he walked away from them after they told him he was not being detained. Cooley recorded his encounters with the officers and uploaded the interactions to YouTube.

Pictures of Cooley with his daughter and assault rifle inside the ticketing area of the airport caused a commotion on social media, especially after Cooley sent the picture to WSB-TV.

As it turns out, Cooley was entirely within his rights to carry the weapon inside the airport. House Bill 60 (the Safe Carry Protection Act), which went into effect on July 1, 2014, allows licensed gun owners to bring guns into a variety of places formerly barred. There are a number of rules, requirements and exceptions included in the text of the bill – churches, for example, may decide on an individual basis whether that church will allow guns inside.

In response to Cooley’s actions, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Lithonia) proposed the “common-sense” Airport Security Act, which would prevent people from carrying loaded weapons in any part of an airport, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in the weeks following the incident.