TSA on pace to catch record number of guns at BWI checkpoints

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) are on pace to catch a record number of guns at airport checkpoints.

TSA officials have caught 26 guns so far this year at BWI, tying the record set in 2017. The 26th gun was caught on Oct. 19 when an Annapolis, Md., man was found with a 9 mm handgun loaded with 15 bullets in his carry-on bag. The man said he forgot that he had his loaded semi-automatic handgun with him.

A TSA officer spotted it through the checkpoint X-ray machine. Police were notified and confiscated the firearm. The man was detained for questioning and arrested on weapons charges.

Passengers are allowed to travel with firearms in checked baggage if they are properly packaged and declared. Guns must be unloaded, packed in a hard-sided case, locked, and packed separately from ammunition. Firearm possession laws vary by state.

Last year, 4,239 firearms were discovered in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints in the U.S. — a 7 percent increase nationally in firearm discoveries compared to 2017. Of that number, 86 percent of firearms detected at checkpoints were loaded, and about 34 percent had a bullet in the chamber.

TSA reminds travelers that even those with concealed firearm permits are not allowed to bring guns onto airplanes in their carry-on bags.