With air traffic reaching its highest level in five months, airport security finds three times more firearms in passenger carry-on luggage than before the pandemic.
And 80% of the weapons are loaded.
The airport discoveries come at a time when sales of firearms in the United States are on the rise, and analysts believe many of those purchases are being made by people who have never owned one.
Agents found 15.3 guns for every 1 million people searched in July, compared with 5.1 for every million in the same month last year, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported Monday.
There has been a significant increase in loaded weapons at checkpoints, agency administrator David Pekoske said. He added that security officers already work under enormous risks and that “no one should introduce new ones.”
“Even more concerning is that 80% of the firearms that pass through the checkpoints are loaded, which is a possible accident,” Pekoske said in a statement.
After an extended lull, firearms sales began to rise in recent months.
FBI data indicates that more than 3.6 million petitions for background checks were filed in July, 79% more than in July 2019.
Background checks have risen every month compared to the prior year since April 2019, but rose even more this year, topping 3 million in four of the last five months. Since December 2015, background checks have been under 3 million.
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