TSA: 58 guns caught at MSP checkpoints in 2022

(KSTP) – Dozens of guns were stopped last year at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport security checkpoints, federal officials say.

According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency’s officers caught 58 guns at the airport in 2022, the second year in a row that number has increased. Agents at MSP stopped 56 in 2021, 34 in 2020 and 40 in 2019.

Across the country, TSA officers stopped 6,542 guns at checkpoints in 2022, the first time they’ve stopped more than 6,000 guns in a single year, the agency says. Of the 6,542 guns, the TSA says 88% were loaded.

“Bringing a firearm to the checkpoint is an expensive, dangerous mistake that far too many people are making,” Minnesota TSA Federal Security Director Marty Robinson said. “Our TSA officers are doing a fantastic job preventing weapons from making their way onboard aircraft, but the responsibility falls to passengers to pack smart and keep prohibited items out of their baggage.”

Given that around 761 million people were screened by TSA last year, the agency found one gun for every 116,394 travelers.

MSP’s rate was lower than the national average, as more than 11.4 million passengers were screened last year, making MSP’s rate one gun for every 197,238 travelers.

The airport where they most guns were caught last year: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta (448). The only other airport where more than 300 guns were stopped last year was Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (385).

The TSA recently increased the penalty for bringing weapons to an airport, with penalties now as high as $14,950 – depending on circumstances. However, passengers can travel with guns in checked bags if they’re unloaded and packed separately from ammunition in a locked, hardback case and declared at the check-in counter.