NYC airports under the gun
TSA undercounts weapons: report
More illegal guns are being carried by passengers at local airports than the TSA would have you believe.
The Transportation Security Administration lowballed the number of guns seized from passengers traveling through JFK, La Guardia and Newark airports last year, all while suggesting that these hubs had become nearly “gunfree,” according to an analysis of Port Authority Police Department statistics and lawenforcement officials.
Late last month, a TSA spokeswoman said that there were only a total of 12 illegal guns seized by agency employees at passengerscreening checkpoints at the three airports in 2014.
There were five illegal guns confiscated at Newark, five at JFK and two at La Guardia, the agency representative said.
The number of confiscated illegal guns had fallen so dramatically that the three airports are now among the most “gunfree” in the country, thanks largely to tough New York and New Jersey laws, according to the TSA.
But PAPD statistics reviewed by The Post appear to contradict the TSA’s figures and its mostly “gunfree’’ assertion.
The agency’s records show: There were 64 guns seized by PAPD cops inside or near area airports.
All but five were found inside terminals at the three airports. Of all the airport gun seizures in 2014, at least 18 of those occurred at TSA manned, preflight screening checkpoints.
The development comes amid the recent disturbing news that 153 other illegal guns were smuggled into Brooklyn from Atlanta aboard a series of commercial flights beginning in March — crimes that allegedly occurred because the TSA doesn’t screen airline employees.
The apparent conflict between the TSA and PAPD data was most glaring at La Guardia. While the federal agency said only two illegal guns were seized at passengerscreening checkpoints in 2014, PAPD figures show 40 illegal guns were confiscated at the airport — with at least eight seized at the TSA’s passenger checkpoints.
A TSA spokesman disputed the accuracy of the PAPD stats while insisting the agency had no reason to underreport gun seizures, particularly since the agency takes pains to herald each such incident on social media.
The majority of illegal guns are seized at area airports when passengers “selfreport” a firearm they’re trying to transport to their home state — where they have a local permit, but don’t have the license with them.
In such cases, passengers approach an airline ticket counter to announce their intention to fly the weapon back with them in a “lock box,” prompting PAPD cops to arrest them for violating local gun laws.
Other illegal guns are routinely confiscated when passengers keep them in checked luggage and the gun is discovered during routine preflight baggage screening.