My At the Airport column on USA TODAY this month takes a look at the TSA’s 2015 Year in Review, which reveals some alarming statistics about the number of guns, knives and potentially explosive things that passengers try to bring onto airplanes.
The rundown:
In 2015 TSA found a record 2,653 firearms in carry-on bags at airport checkpoints.
That was an increase of 20% over the number of firearms found in 2014.
2,198 of the firearms (82.8%) found at checkpoints in 2015 were loaded, many with a round in the chamber.
The most guns – 153 – were found at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
The Top 10 list continues with:
ATL: 144
IAH: 100
DEN: 90
Phoenix Sky Harbor: 73
Nashville International and Seattle-Tacoma International: 59 each
Dallas Love Field: 57
Austin-Bergstrom International: 54
Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport:52
See more photos – including the bear mace, sword canes and the meat slicer someone tried to take onto an airplane – in my January 2016 At the Airport column on USA TODAY.