Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport isn’t only the world’s busiest. It’s also the most strapped.
Driving the news: The undisputed heavyweight champion of firearms found in travelers’ carry-on baggage has done it again, according to the Transportation Security Administration’s annual review .
Details: TSA agents found 451 handguns at Atlanta airport security checkpoints in 2023, a small jump compared with the 448 detected in 2022.
- It’s below, however, the high of 507 firearms in 2021, when COVID-19 air travel restrictions started to ease.
Zoom out: Statewide, agents found a firearm for every 61,646 passengers — more than double the national rate.
What happens: When a TSA agent detects a firearm, they immediately contact the airport law enforcement agency — in this case the Atlanta Police Department — to remove the weapon and contact the traveler.
- What happens to the firearm — and the traveler — is at the discretion of the airport law enforcement agency, TSA says. People can face criminal and civil penalties, plus the loss of TSA PreCheck eligibility.