That number was 5 percent higher than the 4,239 firearms discovered in 2018, and nearly five times the 926 found in 2008, the T.S.A. A vast majority of the guns found in 2019 — almost 90 percent — were loaded, the T.S.A. About one-third of the guns caught had a round in the chamber. “The continued increase in the number of firearms that travelers bring to airport checkpoints is deeply troubling,” David P. Pekoske, the administrator of the T.S.A., said in a statement on Wednesday. He advised fliers to follow the rules of the “proper way to travel safely with a firearm.”

Source: International New York Times January 16, 2020 17:03 UTC