Traveling soon? Don’t forget to check TSA rules
Agency says gun discoveries spiked in July, despite fewer travelers
Here’s a little reminder in case you need it, readers – if you are traveling on an airplane, don’t bring your gun in your carry-on bag.
According to the Transportation Security Administration, air travel is down, by 75%.
Yet the rate of guns found per passenger screened at the airport security checkpoints in July was up three times over last year’s figure, CNN reports.
In fact, more than 300 guns were found in carry-on baggage nationwide, which equates to 15.3 guns per million people screened.
In July 2019, that rate was 5.1 guns per million people – so despite the fact that fewer people are traveling by air, the TSA is finding way more guns at the checkpoints.
The CNN report did not include why the TSA thought this was happening, but did note that about 80% of the firearms found were loaded.
Maybe people are just unaware of the rules of what you can and cannot bring in your carry-on baggage – or maybe something else is going on. But as a traveler, it’s up to you to do the research and figure out what you can and cannot bring – and whether specific items should be in the checked baggage or in your carry-on.
And it is possible to fly on an airplane with a gun and ammunition.
Unloaded firearms in a locked hard-sided container can be transported, but only as checked baggage. One has to declare the firearm and/or ammunition to the airline when checking your bag at the ticket counter, and the container must completely secure the firearm from being accessed, the TSA’s website notes.
And firearms, by the way, aren’t the only items that aren’t allowed in your carry-on.
Just look at this partial list of items that can’t go in your carry-on, but can be brought in your checked baggage: aerosol insecticide, axes, hatchets, baseball bats, BB guns, billy clubs, bowling pins, bows and arrows, box cutters, brass knuckles, canoe/kayak paddles, cap guns, cast iron cookware, cattle prods, compressed air guns, corkscrews with a blade, crowbars …. We’re only on the Cs, but clearly, the list is very long.
There are some items that are just flat-out banned – even in your checked baggage – and that list includes things like arc lighters, plasma lighters, electronic lighters and e-lighters.
If you are traveling, and you plan to bring anything outside of clothes and toiletries, you have a responsibility to figure out what you can bring, and how to best do it.
The TSA’s website is a good place to start: www.tsa. gov – and click on the “What Can I Bring?” link at the bottom of the page.