One of William Kroger’s clients called in a panic from the Cabo San Lucas airport. He had inadvertently left a gun in his carry-on bag — a gun that was not detected by the TSA back in America when he boarded his flight.
“What do I do?” the man asked, knowing how Mexican authorities hate the flood of guns gushing in from up north.
Kroger declined to describe his advice in detail, but his client returned to Southern California at the end of his trip one firearm lighter.
More and more people are packing guns in their carry-on bags at Southern California airports, according to data from the TSA. In 2018, there was one gun seized for every 584,187 boarding passengers. In 2021, it was more than twice as common: There was one gun seized for every 226,764 boarding passengers.
At a time when mass shootings have killed and injured dozens and horrified everyone else, we wonder, what’s going on?
“Statistically, we know there are more firearm owners as compared to prior years,” said Lorie Dankers, TSA spokeswoman.
More guns
There are about 400 million firearms in the U.S., more than enough to arm every man, woman and child.
In California, the number of guns sold per year skyrocketed 255% between 2000 and 2020, according to state data.
About 1 in 4 California adults lives in a gun-owning home, according to the University of California Firearm Violence Research Center at UC Davis.
“It’s possible that more people are carrying guns routinely, partly a response to an increasingly tense and volatile political environment and relaxed laws in some states around both open and concealed carry,” said David S. Meyer, a sociology professor who specializes in gun policy and violence at UC Irvine.
“If some of those carrying haven’t done so habitually in the past, some of them are going to be careless or stupid about what happens when you bring a gun to an airport.”
News flash: You cannot bring a gun to an airport. Despite this bedrock, time-honored rule, the TSA seized 142 guns at the five Los Angeles-area airports in 2022, up from 94 in 2018. That’s a 51% increase.
- The biggest jump, percentage-wise, was at the Long Beach Airport, but that’s a function of tiny numbers. There was one seizure in 2018 and five in 2022, for an increase of 400%.
- The next-largest jump was at Ontario International Airport, where seizures increased 158% (12 to 31).
- Orange County’s John Wayne Airport saw seizures rise 50% (12 to 18).
- Los Angeles International saw seizures rise 33% (57 to 76, with a peak of 89 in 2021).
- Things held steady at the Burbank Airport at 12 seizures in each year.
Nationwide, the TSA seized 6,542 guns last year, an increase of 54% over 2018. Nationwide in 2018, the average was one gun seized for every 212,246 boarding passengers. It was one gun seized for every 109,683 boarding passengers in 2021. The number of boardings in 2022 is not finalized yet.
Who the heck brings a gun to the airport?
Whoops
“My clients’ weapons are legal and registered,” said Kroger, the attorney. “Typically what happens is, people forget,”
Folks grab a bag from the back of a closet that they didn’t fully empty before heading to the airport. Or they head off on road trips with a gun for protection, and forget that’ll be a problem when they fly back home.
“I have a lot of those,” said Kroger, who handles about one of these cases each week.
Nationally, about 88% of firearms recovered by the TSA were loaded when they went through security, TSA’s Dankers said. The TSA is not empathetic.
“Responsible firearm owners know where their guns are at all times, so an excuse of ‘I forgot’ is not sufficient,” she said.
If the TSA finds a gun in your bag — and no, it doesn’t find everything, but it did recently find a rocket launcher in checked luggage — you’ll get yanked out of line, interviewed by police, and miss your flight.
Today @TSA officers @SATairport discovered this 84 mm caliber weapon in checked luggage. It was undeclared, as required when traveling with firearms or weapons. Here's info about traveling with firearm. https://t.co/FjDYDrQV0E #Monday #SafetyFirst pic.twitter.com/ax5sqxHNYX
— TSA_SouthWest (@Tsa_SouthWest) January 16, 2023
The local police will decide whether to pursue criminal charges — those are rare — but the TSA can impose civil penalties of up to $14,950 per violation.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, sees the tragedy of our nation’s gun laws reflected in these statistics.
“The gun lobby has fostered a culture of guns anywhere for anyone, anywhere, any time, and since the start of the pandemic we’ve seen surges in gun sales and first-time gun owners, in addition to higher rates of gun violence,” she said by email.
“That means we’re not just seeing more airport seizures, but also more guns being stolen from cars and children gaining access to guns, which leads to senseless and preventable tragedies. We all deserve to feel safe — in our homes, at our schools, and in our airports.”
Gun ownership carries the heavy responsibility of ensuring that these deadly weapons don’t make it into the wrong hands, she said.
Meyer, of UCI, thinks the spate of new gun owners plays a big part in this.
“If you’re used to carrying all the time and you fly, you know what the rules are. You make arrangements not to bring your gun, or you put it in your checked baggage. My guess is that, during COVID, we saw people carrying guns in places you don’t usually see them, like the state legislature of Michigan. Maybe there’s more confusion about what the laws actually are.”
He paused. “It doesn’t make you feel safer,” he said.
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