TSA to travelers: Check your weapons with your baggage
The message from the Transportation Security Administration for airline passengers this season is simple: If you're packing heat, pack it away.
Security agents are on pace to confiscate a record number of weapons at airport checkpoints this year, topping 2013's then-record total of 1,813, and federal officials took the time Tuesday to remind travelers that the only way to travel with weapons is to store them in checked baggage-- and follow several other steps.
"Under no circumstances can passengers carry a gun through the security checkpoint," said Nico Melendez, a TSA spokesman.
But there is a way passengers can carry a gun coming into the airport, he said.
Passengers much check-in firearms, replicas, firearm parts and ammunition, and it must be locked in a hard-sided container.
-- The firearm cannot be loaded
-- The case must have a lock over it
-- Magazines and ammunition clips must also be secured in the same way as firearms
-- Firearms and ammunition can be carried in the same container as a firearm, but the firearm must remain unloaded
-- Declare the firearm at the airline ticket counter during check-in process
-- Check your destination's firearm regulations before traveling
-- Before leaving home, be sure to check baggage to make sure firearms were not left inside
Federal agents have found 2,000 guns at checkpoints in the first 11 months of 2014, including 80 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Melendez said.
When a passenger is found carrying a firearm in Arizona, TSA agents notify police, Melendez said, they give the passenger an option to either leave the gun with a loved one or in possession of the police.
"When they find weapons passengers usually say, 'I forgot,'" Melendez said.
Firearm replicas must also be secured the same way as real firearms, but rifle scopes are permitted in carry-on and checked bags.
The same goes for other weapons, such as knives, Melendez said.
Passengers must be aware of other states' gun laws because in places like California the passenger could be arrested if found with a firearm at a security checkpoint, Melendez said.
