TSA warns of gun seizures at Philly airport, but is the problem in AC, too?

When TSA employees pulled a .357 magnum from a passenger’s backpack at the Philly airport on Tuesday it marked a record 45th weapons seizure there this year.

The Transportation Security Administration said this week the number of firearms seized at Philadelphia International Airport has more than doubled since 2019, when screenings turned up 20 weapons.

Fortunately, back at the Newark, Delaware, man’s home-state airport, the number of guns taken from flyers is dramatically lower — more than 22-fold.

How many guns seized at Atlantic City airport?

The TSA said as of Dec. 13, they’ve seized just two weapons at Wilmington Airport this year. Avelo started flights out of the airport in February, but there was no commercial service there for the first month of the year.

And that’s the largest number of weapons found at area airports.

Security agents at Trenton-Mercer Airport, in Ewing, New Jersey, have reported just one weapons seizure there this year.

And no weapons have been uncovered at Atlantic City International Airport, the TSA said.

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But, the agency responsible for securing U.S. airports is signaling that 2023 could be a record-setter for gun seizures across the country. So far, agents have found more than 6,000 firearms, “and are on track to set a national record,” the agency said in a news statement Wednesday, noting 6,542 guns were found at airports in 2022.

Aside from criminal weapons charges issued by police, the TSA can issue civil penalties to anyone caught with weapons at airports. Those penalties could include fines up to $15,000.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: TSA says gun seizures are up at airports, including Philly