Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers intercepted a record number of firearms brought by passengers to airport security checkpoints in 2022. Last year, TSA stopped 6,542
firearms; more than 88% were loaded as of December 16, 2022.
This number surpasses the previous record of 5,972 firearms detected in 2021. TSA anticipates it will prevent about 6,600 firearms in carry-on bags from entering the secure area of airports by the end of 2022, a nearly 10% increase over 2021’s record level.