Three airports in Texas rank among the top ten in the country for most guns found at TSA checkpoints. TSA agents found a total of 6,542 guns at airports across the country in 2022.
Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta had the largest number with 448. DFW Airport was second with 385; Bush Intercontinental in Houston was third with 298. Austin-Bergstrom was eighth with 150.
Including Love Field, Abilene, East Texas Regional Airport, Wichita Falls Regional Airport and Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, TSA found a total of 521 guns in the North Texas region.
"Some of the top excuses we get when someone brings a gun to the airport are, 'I forgot it was in my bag,' 'It's not mine. It's my spouse's," says TSA's Patricia Mancha.
Last year, TSA agents at airports in North Texas found a total of 440 guns; in 2018, they found just 315. Nationwide, 5,972 guns were found last year, and 4,239 were found in 2018.
"We want to prevent another incident like we had on 9/11," Mancha says. "We want to prevent circumstances from getting out of control because also what we see is sometimes people get upset."
Mancha urges people to check the "MyTSA" app or TSA website before leaving home to see if they have anything that would not be allowed. She says one of the reasons people are encouraged to arrive so early for flights is if they have something that is refused at TSA, they can make plans to leave the item in their car, with someone who is not traveling or move it to their checked bag.
"We really want to prevent travelers from bringing something that can cause bodily injury to someone else: pepper spray, stun guns, guns, even cast iron skillets, blenders," she says.
TSA says many people flew last year for the first time since the pandemic started, so some may have forgotten what items may and may not be brought on board a plane. Several states, including Texas, have also passed laws in the past two years loosening restrictions to carry guns.
Mancha says passengers must remember rules at TSA are set by the federal government, not states. She also says other states may have tighter gun laws, so people should familiarize themselves with the laws of the state they are traveling to.
"Do your research, be aware of the gun laws where you're going," she says. "Pre-pandemic, you still were not allowed to bring a stun gun or a gun or a knife in your carry-on luggage, and that's the case, now."
TSA does allow people to travel with guns in checked luggage, but they must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case and locked. Guns must also be declared to the airline ahead of time.
In San Antonio, TSA agents recently found an undeclared 84-millimeter anti-tank rifle in a checked bag.
Mancha urges people with questions about whether an item is or is not allowed to contact TSA. She says the agency attempts to respond within two hours when people submit questions on social media:
https://www.facebook.com/AskTSA/
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