Airport Gun Seizures up 20% in 2013
The US airport gun seizures report confirms that confiscations occurred at least once at some 200
sites. ATL topped the per-site rate but other locations also featured prominently. 65 seizures occurred at PHX with 67 more at IAH and no less than 98 at DFW In almost 50 per cent of cases, the guns involved were .380 and 9mm pistols.
The figures are high but, some suggest, they're not overly significant in airport security terms.
"If you look at the numbers, none of them are terrorists...they are people who violated TSA rules", airport security export Douglas Laird stated in comments quoted by Fox News. Laird continued: "I have mixed feelings about the numbers. 99.9999 percent of the people who had guns confiscated were not going to commit terrorist acts."
Passengers who attempt to bypass US airport gun rules face the prospect of civil charges and fines that can reach $11,000.
The danger posed by armed passengers at airport was highlighted all too clearly during November 2013's LAX shooting incident. Towards the end of last year, a survey was carried out, the results of which suggested more than half the US population think TSA employees should themselves be armed.
