TSA officers fired over gun on flight

Two Transportation Security Administration officers were reportedly fired after a man boarded a Delta Air Lines flight with a gun.

The agency says the government shutdown isn’t to blame for the security lapse.

The unidentified passenger accidentally made it through a TSA checkpoint with a firearm on Jan. 2 and flew from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to Tokyo Narita International Airport. He notified Japanese authorities upon his arrival.

TSA officials confirmed the mishap took place after standard procedures were not followed — and the officers were later fired, NBC News reports.

“A passenger did in fact pass through a standard screening TSA checkpoint with a firearm at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport on the morning of Jan. 3,” TSA said in a statement to CNN.

“The perception that this might have occurred as a result of the partial government shutdown would be false.”

However, an airport in Houston is blaming terminal closures on the shutdown.

“Due to staffing issues associated with the partial shutdown of the federal government, the Transportation Security Administration security checkpoint and the ticketing counter in Terminal B at George Bush Intercontinental Airport remains closed,” the George Bush Intercontinental Airport said Monday.

The government shutdown began Dec. 22.

It has caused more than 51,000 TSA workers to work without pay, according to Bloomberg.

“TSA federal security directors continually meet with airport authorities and airlines nationwide to ensure resources are optimized, efforts to consolidate operations are actively managed, and that the screening and security of the traveling public are never compromised,” the TSA said Monday.

It’s not uncommon for TSA checkpoints to find guns — 3,957 firearms were found in passengers’ carry-on bags throughout the U.S in 2017.