The Transportation Security Administration last year discovered 6,737 firearms at airport security checkpoints, including at DFW and Love Field.
“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,” TSA administrator David Pekoske said in a news release. “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.”
Ninety-three percent of the firearms intercepted at checkpoints were loaded. TSA agents at Love Field and DFW found a combined 503 guns — enough to land both in a Top 10 list of airports where travelers tried to board flights with the most firearms.
“In 2023, TSA 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,” the release reads. “When a firearm is detected at a security checkpoint, TSOs immediately contact local law enforcement, who remove the passenger and the firearm from the checkpoint area. Depending on local laws, the law enforcement officer may arrest or cite the passenger. TSA does not confiscate firearms.”
According to the release, the agency fines passengers who take firearms through TSA checkpoints up to $15,000 and revokes TSA PreCheck eligibility for at least five years.
TSA’s Top 10 list of airports where the most guns were intercepted in 2023:
- Atlanta — 451
- DFW — 378
- Houston — 311
- Phoenix — 235
- Nashville — 188
- Denver — 178
- Orlando — 164
- Tampa — 144
- Fort Lauderdale — 135
- Love Field — 125