TSA 'highly concerned' with number of guns found on travelers at Philadelphia airport last year
PHILADELPHIA - The Transportation Security Administration at Philadelphia International Airport said it’s "highly concerned" about the number of firearms it took from passengers last year.
Federal Security Director Gerardo Spero reports that the agency scanned around eight million passengers in 2021 and confiscated 39 weapons. That figure far outpaces the number of firearms the agency confiscated in the previous two years.
Spero said he does not know what motivates people to carry guns to the airport, but he knows "guns and airports don’t mix."
The TSA demonstrated for reporters Friday how a pistol can be safely transported by air. The weapon is emptied and placed in a locked container with the ammunition stored separately.
Most weapons are found in luggage reports the TSA and detected by an x-ray machine, according to officials. When a gun is discovered the line is stopped and the police are called to remove the weapon and investigate.
Spero said all 39 passengers found with guns last year were fined $2,000.
The TSA reports nearly 6,000 guns were found on passengers across the country in 2021 and says 86 % of them were loaded.
"That’s unacceptable, totally unacceptable", said Kemea McNeil, a traveler from Delaware. "I mean are they forgetting they have guns? I don’t believe that. You know if you have a firearm or not."
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