JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers intercepted a record number of firearms at airport security checkpoints in 2022, including guns at JAX. According to TSA, 71 guns were found at security checkpoints at Jacksonville International Airport this year. That’s a record. The previous highest total at JAX was in 2019 with 50 guns found. The 71st gun was found at JAX Wednesday morning, and it was loaded.
Other Florida airports also had a high number of firearms found. Orlando’s airport reported 160 guns. Fort Lauderdale’s airport reported 134 guns and Tampa’s airport had 130 guns brought in by passengers.
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Nationwide, TSA stopped 6,301 firearms as of December 16, and more than 88% were loaded. That number surpasses the previous record of 5,972 firearms in 2021.
“I applaud the work of our Transportation Security Officers who do an excellent job of preventing firearms from getting into the secure area of airports, and onboard aircraft,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “Firearms are prohibited in carry-on bags at the checkpoint and onboard aircraft. When a passenger brings a firearm to the checkpoint, this consumes significant security resources and poses a potential threat to transportation security, in addition to being very costly for the passenger.”
Firearm possession laws vary by state and local government, but firearms are never allowed in carry-on bags at any TSA security checkpoint, even if a passenger has a concealed weapon permit. In order to reduce the threat of firearms at checkpoints, TSA has increased the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to $14,950. TSA determines the penalty amount for a violation based on the circumstances in each case