Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials discovered a total of 2,653 firearms in carry-on bags at checkpoints across the US in 2015, averaging more than seven firearms per day. Of those, 2,198 (83%) were loaded. Firearms were also intercepted at a total of 236 airports; 12 more airports than last year.

Despite all the warnings and publicity surrounding permitted hand luggage items, TSA also reported a 20% increase in firearm discoveries from 2014’s total of 2,212, without counting the huge number of knives, replica weapons and explosives (mostly inert) that were also confiscated.

Eagle-eyed TSA officers published their top 10 league for ‘gun catches’ in 2015 recently, with Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport taking the dubious honour with 153.

The other nine (in order) were as follows: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta 144; George Bush Intercontinental Houston 100; Denver 90; Phoenix Sky Harbor 73; Nashville 59; Seattle-Tacoma 59; Dallas Love Field 57; Austin-Bergstrom 54; and William P. Hobby Houston 52.

 

TSA added that in addition to firearms discovered this year, there were many other hazardous snd prohibited items that passengers attempted to travel with this year through both domestic and international airports, plus land border crossings.

Just taking a handful of examples, TSA officers report that they discovered replica sticks of dynamite at Las Vegas, a  scale model of an explosive drilling device at Houston Intercontinental, an inert 120mm tank round at Reno and an inert artillery round at Washington-Dulles.

 

Many other inert replica explosives, grenades, mortar shells, mines and anti-tank projectiles were confiscated, with TSA pointing out that even though they are not functional, each and every one has to be checked to ensure this is the case – so causing big security delays – while most of the items are also confiscated.

In its report, TSA added that one of its most infamous passengers at Orlando Airport was actually caught concealing two handguns, one unassembled rifle, and an unidentified amount of ammunition inside three amplifiers within a checked bag.

 

Just to underline the colossal job that TSA faces across the huge number of airports and border posts where it works, the body reports that its officers screened no less than 708,316,339 million passengers (more than 1.9m a day), which is 40,780,330 million more passengers than for the same time frame in 2014.

In addition to screening more than 708m individuals, TSA officers also screened 1.6bn carry-on bags, 432m checked bags and 12.9m airport employees.

Despite these huge numbers, TSA claims that nationwide less than two per cent of passengers waited in line longer than 20 minutes.