December 04, 2023
THOM CARROLL/for PhillyVoice
TSA agents at Philadelphia International Airport have confiscated 44 firearms from people at security checkpoints in 2023, tying the all-time high set last year.
As 2023 winds down, the Philadelphia International Airport is on track to hit an alarming milestone – the most guns ever confiscated by its security personnel in a single year.
On Friday, a man attempted to pass through a security checkpoint with a loaded .40 caliber handgun in his carry-on luggage, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday. It was the third firearm confiscated by TSA agents within a five-day span and the 44th of the year. That ties the previous high, set last year.
In Friday's case, the gun was loaded with six bullets, including one that was in its chamber, the TSA said. It was detected by an X-ray machine at the security checkpoint, prompting an inspection of the bag. The man was charged by Philadelphia police with a weapons offense.
"There is no excuse for bringing a gun to the checkpoint," said Gerardo Spero, the TSA's security director at PHL.
In addition to criminal charges, [eople who attempt to bring guns through TSA security can face federal civil penalties of up to $15,000 and be disqualified from TSA PreCheck privileges.
The number of guns confiscated at the Philadelphia airport have increased every year since 2019, when TSA agents seized 20 guns at security checkpoints. Last year, 44 guns were apprehended.
"Keep in mind that we still have a month to go in 2023," Spero said. "This is not the type of record we seek to set."
The trend is not limited to Philadelphia. In 2022, TSA agents confiscated a record 6,542 firearms from travelers at U.S. airports. Except for 2020, when travel was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of confiscated firearms has increased every year since 2010.
This surge may be a byproduct of a more heavily-armed population, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Monday during a press conference. A record 52% of Americans say that someone in their household owns a gun, according to a recent NBC News poll.
Krasner noted that people usually bring guns to the airport unintentionally. That was the case in August, when an airport concessions worker was caught bringing a loaded 9mm handgun through a security checkpoint. The man told authorities that he forgot to remove the firearm from his bag after he went to a shooting range.
"You have to be out of your mind to deliberately put a gun through a TSA checkpoint," Krasner said. "Not knowing that you have a gun with you is a different level of culpability than knowingly trying to bring a gun onto a plane."
The federal government prohibits the possession of a gun at an airport security checkpoint or having a firearm in one’s carry-on luggage. Travelers are permitted to bring unloaded firearms in their checked luggage as long as the weapons are properly packed in a hard case and declared during the check-in process.
