TSA reports airport gun discoveries up in Memphis, Knoxville while Nashville leads state

New data from the Transportation Security Administration shows an increase in firearms found in Tennessee airports in 2018 over 2017, with a big increase in Memphis and the majority of guns being found in Nashville.

Two Tennessee airports saw increases in the number of firearms found in carry-on and checked bags, with Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport moving from 13 firearms found in 2017 to 16 firearms in 2018 and Memphis International Airport jumping up 80 percent from 26 to 47.

TSA: More travelers, more guns

TSA regional spokesperson Mark Howell said the increase in gun discoveries is likely due to a pretty simple formula.

“There’s really no big science to it,” he said. “Part of the overall increase could be attributed to a simple formula. More people are traveling; we’re screening more people year over year, and you have more people purchasing guns. More guns plus more travelers is going to equal more guns at airports.”

Nashville International Airport accounted for more than half of the 162 firearms found across the state’s five biggest airports in 2018 and saw about 16 million passengers compared to about 3 million at Memphis International, around 2 million at Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson, half a million in Chattanooga and about 400,000 at the Tri-Cities Airport.

Four guns were found at Tri-Cities airport in Blountville last year, down from six, and nine were found in Chattanooga, down from 14. TSA agents also found three smoke grenades in a checked bag at Nashville’s airport on Nov. 19.

Nashville 10th highest in nation on gun finds

Agents found 86 firearms at Nashville International Airport, which placed the airport at 10th highest in the country, and 80 of them were loaded when discovered.

Four of the other top-10 airports were in Texas, and another two were in Florida. Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, which is a frequent hub for flights in the Southeast and sees about 44 million passengers annually, saw 76 firearms discovered last year, up nine from 2017.

Howell said the concentration of gun discoveries in states like Texas and Florida, as well as across the South, likely had to do with local laws regarding firearm carrying practices.

Open carry in South contributes to counts

“A lot of the states in the South have very high gun discovery numbers at checkpoints,” he said. “The other part of this is, where you have open carry, you’re going to see number that are higher than in states that don’t because people get used to carrying their firearms around day to day.”

Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta led the country in firearms discovered in 2018 with 298. According to the airport’s website, some 275,000 passengers pass through the airport each day on average, meaning it can see around 100 million flyers each year.

Across the country, the number of firearms discovered by the TSA has increased in each of the last 10 years, moving up an average 16.5 percent annually from 926 in 2008 up to 4,239 last year.

About 86 percent of the firearms found in 2018 were loaded when they were found by security personnel, and about a third of all firearms were found with a round in the chamber, according to the TSA.

That works out to about 12 guns found each day among the 249 airports where firearms were discovered last year.

Civil penalties may follow arrests, citations

The TSA can level civil penalties of up to $13,333 for prohibited item violations and has created guidelines to inform travelers of how to pack firearms and ammunition.

Howell said the TSA’s civil penalties usually follow citations or arrests by local law enforcement agencies, which are required to handle firearm discoveries at airports after they’re made by the TSA. The consequences can add up, Howell said, and frequently include missing a flight and causing prolonged security delays, in addition to the potential criminal and civil penalties levied by agencies.

Thoroughly inspecting each bag for firearms and following the TSA’s guidelines for flying with them is the best way to avoid those consequences, Howell said, and can prevent having your vacations derailed.

“We don’t want to infringe on anybody’s right to take a gun with them when they travel, but obviously we want it done in a safe way where it’s not accessible during the flight,” Howell said. “If you follow those steps, and we have them all outlined on the TSA website, there’s no issue with it.”

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