TSA Found More Than 6,600 Firearms At Airport Checkpoints In 2024

More than 6,600 firearms were detected at airport security checkpoints by Transportation Security Administration screeners last year.

About 94% of the firearms were loaded, the agency says.

"One firearm at a checkpoint is too many,” says TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Firearms present a safety risk for our employees and everyone else at the checkpoint. It’s also costly and slows down operations. If individuals who carry a firearm intend to travel, we remind them that the firearm must be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, declared to the airline at the check-in counter and transported in checked baggage.”

The number of firearms detected last year — 6,678 — and 6,737 detected in 2023 and 6,542 in 2022 represent a sharp increase from 10 years ago. In 2016, TSA detected 2,653 firearms.

The TSA says that the detections by its agents last year prevented all 6,678 firearms from getting into secure areas of airports and onboard airplanes. More than 904 million people were screened by the TSA at airport checkpoints in 2024.

When a firearm is detected at a security checkpoint, the TSA says its officials immediately contact local law enforcement officers, who will remove the individual and the firearm from the checkpoint area. Depending on local laws, the TSA says, law enforcement officers may arrest or cite an individual carrying a firearm.

In addition to any action taken by law enforcement, individuals who bring a firearm to a TSA checkpoint face a maximum federal penalty of $14,950, will have their TSA PreCheck eligibility revoked for at least five years and will undergo enhanced future screening.

WRIC ABC News in Richmond, Virginia, reported today that a record number of handguns — 145 — were intercepted last year by TSA screeners at Virginia’s airport security checkpoints. The interceptions included 41 guns at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, 34 at Norfolk International Airport, 32 at Richmond International Airport and 29 at Washington Dulles International Airport.

The TSA last year launched a Prepare, Pack, Declare public awareness campaign to explain the steps for safely traveling with a firearm. The campaign states that firearms and ammunition are never allowed to travel through carry-on baggage screening checkpoints.

Travelers are allowed to transport unloaded firearms in checked baggage if the firearms are packed in a locked, hard-sided case before coming to the airport. Locked cases that can easily be opened are not permitted, the TSA says. Passengers may use any brand or type of lock to secure the case, including TSA-recognized locks.

Only the passenger transporting the firearm is allowed to retain the key or lock combination, the TSA says. Properly packaged small arms ammunition not exceeding .75 caliber for a rifle or pistol, magazines and shotgun shells of any gauge may be carried inside of a magazine or container in the same hard-sided case as the firearm. The ammunition, though, cannot be stored inside the firearm, the TSA stipulates.