US puts limits on guns in baggage

Claiming procedures changed for international passengers in wake of Fort Lauderdale shootings

International travelers flying into South Florida airports will not be allowed to pick up guns at baggage claim carousels, under a recent change by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials prompted by the mass shooting last month in Fort Lauderdale.

All passengers must now claim checked guns from a baggage inspection area while going through customs, according to the change by the agency’s Miami field office.

The Key West, Palm Beach, Miami and Fort Lauderdale airports all fall under the jurisdiction of the field office.

A notice from the agency said the change was “necessary in light of recent events, emerging threats, and in an effort to ensure the safety and security” of others.

Migdalia Arteaga, an agency spokeswoman, said the new procedure is in response to the Jan. 6 shooting in a baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale airport.

The change does not affect domestic travelers who can fly with a gun as long as it is declared, unloaded, locked in a container and transported as checked baggage only, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

Airlines have the responsibility of reuniting domestic passengers with lawfully checked firearms, said TSA spokeswoman Sari Koshetz.

Law enforcement officials say 26-year-old Esteban Santiago killed five people and injured six others near baggage carousels in Terminal 2 after he traveled

from Alaska to Fort Lauderdale, via Minnesota, with a 9 mm handgun and two ammunition magazines in his checked luggage.

After picking up his gun from a carousel, he loaded it in a restroom stall, came out and fired.

The Iraq War veteran who was born in New Jersey and grew up in Puerto Rico was taken into custody shortly after the shooting began.

Santiago pleaded not guilty in federal court and is being held without bond at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat whose district includes the airport, said she is talking with leaders of the House Homeland Security Committee to arrange a hearing on airport security, including transporting firearms and ammunition in checked bags and protecting public areas of airports.

“There are a lot of things that have to be looked into,” she said in an interview Friday. “We have to get this right.”