DALLAS — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints in 2023, the agency announced Wednesday, and DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field were among the top 10 airports in the country for firearm discoveries.
The TSA says the number of firearms found in 2023 surpasses the previous year’s record of 6,542 firearms found at checkpoints, making for the highest one-year total in the agency’s history. About 93% of the firearms found in 2023 were loaded, according to the agency.
“We are still seeing far too many firearms at TSA checkpoints, and what’s particularly concerning is the amount of them loaded, presenting an unnecessary risk to everyone at the TSA checkpoint,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a statement. “Firearms and ammunition are strictly prohibited in carry-on baggage. Passengers are only allowed to travel with an unloaded firearm, and only if they pack it properly in a locked, hard-sided case in their checked baggage and first declare it to the airline at the check-in counter.”
Officers at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport found 451 firearms in carry-ons last year, the most of any airport in the U.S., followed by DFW International Airport, where 378 guns were found in carry-ons last year, and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, where 311 guns were found last year, according to the TSA.
In 2023, TSA says it screened more than 858 million individuals, which indicates the agency intercepted 7.8 firearms per million passengers, a drop from 8.6 per million passengers in 2022.
TSA doesn’t confiscate firearms, but it does contact local law enforcement to take passengers and guns away from checkpoints, according to the agency.
In addition to any action taken by law enforcement, TSA fines passengers who bring a firearm to a TSA checkpoint with a civil penalty up to approximately $15,000, revokes TSA PreCheck eligibility for at least five years, and may conduct enhanced screening, the agency said.
For more information, visit TSA’s website.