Even with heightened security these days, it's a tad surprising that travelers still bring loaded guns to airports in their carry-on bags.
Every week, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) publishes a weekly blog detailing the confiscated weaponry, complete with photographs.
It's oddly compelling. For example, the Dec. 26 entry indicates that 44 firearms were confiscated at airports the previous week, 37 of which were loaded.
Other weaponry confiscated last week included five "inert ordnance and grenades." The prior week, someone's cake knife — complete with holly leaves and berries delicately etched on the handle — was discovered in their carry-on luggage.
Federal regulations prohibit people from carrying guns in a plane's cabin. If you want to bring a gun on a trip — assuming it's properly licensed — it must be unloaded and stored in a locked, hard-sided case in checked baggage. TSA advises that firearms should be declared beforehand with the airline, and travelers should familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws at their destination.
Between Jan. 1 and last Friday, there were 15 arrests of individuals "presenting guns" at security checkpoints at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to Patrick Hogan, a spokesman with the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which operates the airport. That compares with 20 arrests in 2013.
"Typically, people claim to have forgotten the gun was in their bag," Hogan said in an e-mail. Should TSA officials discover weapons during the screening process, they notify airport police, who decide whether to make an arrest.
Nationwide, the number of passengers who brought guns in their carry-on baggage increased 20 percent in 2013 to 1,813, according to the TSA. As of this weekend, the total number jumped to 2,164, TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said. She declined to speculate on why the number increased.
