Air traffic is down, gun seizures up at US airports Air travel is down sharply during the pandemic, but airport screeners are finding guns at a much higher rateDALLAS -- With air traffic nearing a five-month high, airport security is finding guns in passenger carry-on bags at three times the rate recorded before the pandemic. The discoveries at airports comes at a time when U.S. gun sales are surging, and analysts believe many of those purchases are being made by first-time buyers. “Fear drives a lot of gun sales,” he said. National Rifle Association spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said higher gun sales were due to widespread concern that, first because of the pandemic and later because of protests and riots, police might be slower to respond to emergency calls. It was the first time checkpoint traffic in U.S. airports has topped 800,000 since March 17.

Source: ABC News August 10, 2020 15:08 UTC