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April 20 (UPI) -- Officers with the Transportation Security Administration confiscated more than 1,500 guns at airport security checkpoints in the United States during the first quarter of the year, more than 93% of which were loaded. The 1,508 firearms equate to an average of 16.8 intercepted each day during the first three months of the year, the TSA said Thursday.
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The figures represent a 10.3% increase over the same period last year, although the number of passengers traveling through American airports also went up.
TSA officers collected 1,367 firearms in the first quarter of 2022, an average of 15.2 per day.
"Firearms at TSA security checkpoints present an unacceptable safety and security risk to other passengers and I am deeply concerned that the majority of these firearms our TSOs catch are loaded," TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in a statement Thursday.
"If you carry a firearm to the checkpoint, our TSOs will see it and there will be significant penalties, to include federal penalties and additional screening, which may prolong the security screening process. You may still travel with a firearm -- it just must be properly packed in your checked baggage and you must declare it to the airline."
Despite differing gun laws from state to state, firearms are prohibited in all carry-on baggage, at TSA checkpoints, or onboard aircraft, regardless of permits or permission.
Rules and regulations haven't stopped Americans from attempting to bring firearms through the checkpoints.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the TSA intercepted a record number of firearms.
Officers caught 4,432 firearms in carry-on bags or being carried by passengers at checkpoints in 2019.
That figure was surpassed in 2021 with 5,972 firearms seized, and again last year. Officers confiscated 6,542 firearms at 262 airports last year.
The recently-increased maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation is $14,950, which is separate from any applicable city or state laws governing a particular airport.
