ATLANTA — Agents with the Transportation Security Administration say they have confiscated a record-breaking number of guns at Atlanta’s airport.
The TSA confirmed to Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez that security screeners confiscated 30 guns during the month of May at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The agency says that’s the most guns ever confiscated at an airport in a single month.
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“Carrying a weapon on a plane is not necessary,” traveler Saundra Jackson said.
Gun owner Marc VanBruck, who was on his way to New York City, told Jaquez that gun owners shouldn’t be so careless while traveling.
“As a gun owner myself, that is strange,” VanBruck said. “If you’re taking it into a public space, you have to be considerate of others. That you’re not thinking of that when you’re coming through security – just doesn’t make sense to me.”
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Especially since fliers are asked if they packed prohibited items when they check in for their flight online, at the kiosk or in person, and they’re reminded yet again through signs plastered throughout the airport before passing through security.
“We’re told we need to check our water. So, for people to think they can possibly get a firearm secretly through security means people are really careless,” VanBruck said.
TSA officers said so far this year, agents have discovered 108 firearms at Hartsfield-Jackson. That number is up from 91 for the same time period in 2017.
More than 1,700 guns have been found at TSA security checkpoints nationwide so far this year.
Cox Media Group
