HOUSTON – George Bush Intercontinental Airport is among the top five airports where Transportation Security Administration officers found the most guns in 2019.
IAH officers detected 138 guns in carry-on bags or on passengers last year, authorities announced Wednesday.
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NEWS: TSA officers caught more firearms at checkpoints nationwide in 2019 than ever before in the agency’s 18-year history. Read the full press release: https://t.co/n3Zqyfpcnx pic.twitter.com/Qejm69lzwy
— TSA (@TSA) January 15, 2020
The IAH information was part of a news release that also announced that TSA officers found more firearms at checkpoints nationwide in 2019 than ever before in the agency’s 18-year history. In total, 4,432 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags or on passengers at checkpoints across the country last year, averaging about 12.1 firearms per day, approximately a 5% increase nationally in firearm discoveries from the total of 4,239 detected in 2018. Eighty-seven percent of firearms detected at checkpoints last year were loaded.
“The continued increase in the number of firearms that travelers bring to airport checkpoints is deeply troubling,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske is quoted saying in a news release. “There is a proper way to travel safely with a firearm. First and foremost, it should be unloaded. Then it should be packed in a hard-sided locked case, taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared, and checked.”
TSA noted that officers found guns at 278 airport checkpoints nationwide.
The top five airports where TSA officers detected guns at checkpoints in 2019 were:
1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International with 323
2. Dallas/Fort Worth International with 217
3. Denver International with 140
4. George Bush Intercontinental with 138
5. Phoenix Sky Harbor International with 132