U.S. airport security agents have found more than 2,000 firearms at airport security checkpoints so far in 2015, setting new records as well as raising concerns about gun control and airport security.
During a single week in September, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reports that airport security agents had discovered a record 67 firearms in luggage that passengers intended to carry on their flight, according to Reuters.
Of the 67 firearms found during the week ended Sept. 17, 56 were fully loaded, and 26 had a round chambered. This tally set a new weekly record, breaking the previous record, set in May 2013, when agents found 65 firearms in a single week.
Following suit, for the most recent week ending Sept. 24, the TSA reported finding 64 firearms in carry-on bags. Of those, 55 were loaded and 22 had a round in the chamber, according to Yahoo! News.
New TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told a congressional panel in July that his top priority would be to strengthen security at airport checkpoints, reported the Columbus Dispatch. This declaration came in response to a U.S. House of Represenatives hearing started by lawmakers after a Department of Homeland Security report revealed that out of 70 tests, TSA agents failed to detect banned weapons 67 times, according to ABC News.
The TSA reports in a blog that it finds guns in airplane luggage all around the country on a near-daily basis. On Sept. 24, a man was stopped at a Greater Rochester International Airport checkpoint in New York, when they detected a gun in his carry-on bag. The previous day, the TSA found a loaded firearm in a passenger's carry-on bag at the Des Moines International Airport in Iowa.
Weapons, including firearms, firearm parts and ammunition, can be transported in checked bags if they are unloaded, and declared to the airline beforehand. Otherwise, they're banned, and anyone caught bringing one to a security checkpoint can face criminal charges and civil penalties of up to $11,000.
