Gun harvest at airport up this year

Transportation Security Administration agents at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field have already confiscated more firearms this year than all of last year, a spokesman reported Wednesday.

Agency officers have confiscated 17 firearms at the airport’s security checkpoint since the start of the year — an increase from the 13 found in 2015 and the nine reported in 2014. At a news conference Wednesday, agency spokesman Sari Koshetz said it’s not just Little Rock. She said more people across the country are forgetting to leave firearms at home before coming to the airport.

“People are not paying attention before they head to the airport,” she said. “People need to realize they might have used that suitcase for a road trip. They need to unpack before they pack.”

She said passengers caught with a gun at security checkpoints will face civil penalties up to $11,000 from the Transportation Security Administration and could face criminal penalties from local authorities. At Clinton National, which sees about 2 million passengers on average per year, the agency’s officers also confiscated two nonexplosive grenades from passengers this year, along with a stun gun.

When caught with a gun in their carry-on, Koshetz said, most people say they forgot it was in the luggage.

“Even if that’s your simple explanation, we’re going to stop the gun, you’re going to get fined, and you’re possibly going to get arrested,” Koshetz said.

Most of the people stopped at the checkpoint did have carry permits, she said, and most of the firearms were loaded.

For someone who chooses to travel with a gun, Koshetz said, it must be declared to the airline and must be packed in a checked bag. The gun should be in a hard case and needs to be unloaded as well, she said. Passengers traveling with a gun should also be aware of the gun laws in their destination to prevent arrest, she said.

Lt. Steve McClanahan, spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department, said after a Transportation Security Administration agent finds a gun, he notifies a Little Rock police unit at the airport. He said police arrest the individual and take him to the county jail to be fingerprinted.

McClanahan said police often charge offenders with carrying a weapon, which is classified as a Class A misdemeanor. Offenders can face a year a jail and civil penalties, but McClanahan said most of them only receive civil penalties and don’t spend a day in jail.

McClanahan said the majority of cases involve no malicious activity.

“More often than not, it’s a lack of oversight,” he said, adding people are often in a rush and simply forget they had a gun in the baggage.

Besides guns, agents at Clinton National found 20 pounds of ammunition in carry-on luggage over the past six months. Koshetz said the amount collected is about the same as in past years and is a steady problem. According to the website of the federal agency, ammunition can travel in a checked bag but is prohibited in carry-on luggage.

Referring to criticism of long wait times at a number of airports, Koshetz said a vast number of delays at security checkpoints are caused by passengers packing prohibitive items in their carry-on luggage. Every time a prohibitive item is found, she said, agents conduct a search of the bag and cannot move on to other passengers.

“It slows you down, it slows down everybody behind you,” she said.