TSA touts troubling record: Nearly 100 guns found at Indy airport checkpoints
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — With final numbers now in, Indianapolis International Airport caps a year full of praise, praise, and more praise with a very different kind of record.
The Transportation Security Administration says its officers prevented 95 handguns from passing through IND security checkpoints in 2023. The total shatters the previous high of 74 firearms in 2021.
TSA leaders say many of the problems come not from passengers trying to sneak weapons past security, but rather those who bring them to the airport by mistake.
“Responsible gun owners know where their guns are and they know not to bring them to a checkpoint,” Indiana TSA Federal Security Director Aaron Batt said in a comment provided by the agency.
“We urge passengers to start with an empty bag so you know with certainty that there is nothing prohibited inside. Bringing a firearm to the checkpoint is a careless, dangerous mistake that passengers can easily avoid.”
The TSA says its officers stopped 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints across the country last year, nearly 200 more than in 2022. In 93% of the cases, the weapons were loaded, the agency says.
The TSA also released numbers for the state’s other commercial airports, which saw confiscations take a markedly different direction than in Indianapolis.
- South Bend International (SBN): Eight firearms stopped at checkpoints, two fewer than in 2022.
- Fort Wayne International (FWA): Three confiscations, down five from 2022.
- Evansville Regional Airport (EVV): Officers discovered four weapons, six less than 2022.
Guns are not banned from flights completely. The TSA says passengers may travel with firearms in checked baggage as long as they are unloaded, packed separately from ammunition, placed in a locked hardback case, and declared at the airline check-in counter.
Since firearms laws vary by state and city, the agency urges travelers to check the rules at both their departure city and their destination.