U.S. Airports Seized A Record Number Of Guns In 2022

From CBS News:

Transportation Security Administration officers have confiscated 6,301 firearms from airport passengers so far in 2022 – the highest number recorded since the agency's inception. Of those guns taken at airport security checkpoints, 88% were loaded, the agency announced Friday.  

The TSA said that it expects to have confiscated about 6,600 firearms by the end of year, which would mark a 10.5% increase from the 5,972 firearms seized in 2021, which was also a record. 

The agency also reported Friday that it was raising the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation from $13,910 to $14,950. 

The top 5 airports for firearm stops so far this year, according to TSA, were: 

1. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – 438
2. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport – 371
3. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport – 286
4. Nashville International Airport – 203
5. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport – 184

Nashville had the highest rate of firearm confiscation per capita, according to a TSA spokesperson. 

GOP Plays Politics With Air Travel

Once again the Republicans show that they care more about their failed ideology than the smooth functioning of our system -- this time the transportation system. By insisting on anti-union measures being included in the FAA re-athorization bill, they have prevented such a bill from being passed. Now the FAA has no funds with which to operate and will have to furlough thousands of workers. It will also probably cost thousands of construction workers their jobs as airport building funds are also not available.

The FAA is trying to assure the traveling public that flying will still be safe because the air traffic controllers will remain on the job. But one has to wonder how long this GOP-initiated impasse will last before it does start to impact air travel. Will safety at the airports become lax with nobody but air traffic controllers from the government working? What about safety inspectors? What about the people who must re-certify pilots?

This is a bad place for the GOP to try and push its anti-unionism (they want to make it harder for FAA workers to join unions). Making matters even worse, the collection of airline taxes won't be able to be done either. That amounts to about $200 million in lost revenue each week (or about $10 billion a year). That makes no sense for a party that has been whining about the federal budget being too large.

This is just one more instance of the GOP caring more about pleasing themselves than protecting and enhancing the lives of ordinary Americans. They don't care if people have to go without their paychecks, they don't care about millions being without jobs, they don't care about affecting the checks and benefits of millions of the elderly, they don't care about the poor and underprivileged who depend on the programs they cut. All they really care about is pleasing their corporate masters and getting re-elected.

Security Or Plain Old Greed ?

If you've been reading the blogs or watching television news recently, then you know there is a controversy going on right now regarding airport security.   In their never-ending effort to dehumanize Americans while preparing them to live in a police state, and possibly provide a modicum of security while doing that, the Department of Homeland Security has instructed the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) to install full-body scanners in airports.

These scanners are able to see through clothing and fully expose a person's body.   As if this indignity wasn't enough, no one really knows if the scanner's rays are harmful to the traveler -- especially those travelers who fly a lot.   We are just supposed to accept the word of the TSA's administrator that the rays are "within safe limits" (since no real tests were done before starting to install these scanners in airports).

The TSA has said that a person can avoid going through these scanners -- if he/she is willing to submit to a very intrusive body search, which includes a TSA officer groping the person's "private areas".   I'm not sure which is worse, being groped or being exposed -- although the safety factor of the scanner's rays may tip the balance toward being groped.

Many Americans, including myself, are starting to wonder if all this airport security stuff is really necessary.   It is really to protect people, or is it to intimidate and train the public to accept policing agencies violating their civil and constitutional rights?   Or maybe it's just to put more dollars in politicians and corporate pockets.   A recent revelation tends to support that last reason.

Remember Michael Chertoff (pictured above) -- the head of Homeland Security under President Bush?   He was still the head of Homeland Security when the scanners first began to be installed in airports, and today he is still pushing the installation and use of these scanners.   Of course he's just doing this to protect the American public -- right?   Wrong!

When he left the Homeland Security Department Chertoff formed his own company, the Chertoff Group.   He calls this a "security consulting agency".   It is really a lobbying firm.   Chertoff is now a lobbyist, and he's pushing the new scanners to any politician or news organization that will listen.   And he's not doing that as a public service.

Guess who the biggest clients are of Chertoff's new lobbying firm?   That's right.   The companies that make and sell the full-body scanners.   Chertoff is pushing the government installation of the scanners because he is being paid to do so.   The more scanners sold, the more money he makes.   In other words, he little more than an undercover corporate salesman (although he rarely admits that when he's pushing the scanners to politicians).

When given a choice in judging a politician's actions (or ex-politician) and you have a choice between greed and public service, you would be right most of the time to choose greed.   That certainly seems to be the case with Chertoff.

America's Best Airports

Since 9/11, air travel in North America has become much more of a hassle for travelers than a pleasure. While it might not ever have been a true pleasure, new and mounting security rules along with short-tempered and gruff employees and uncomfortable terminals with confusing signs, have made air travel an ordeal to be endured instead of a pleasant experience. That's why I found this new survey so interesting.

The J. D. Power and Company has released a survey it did from January thru December of 2009. They surveyed over 12,000 people who took round-trip flights and asked them to rate their leaving and arriving airports on things like accessibility, check-in, security, terminal comfort, food choices and baggage claim.

Using this data, the company then rated each airport on a 1000 point system and ranked them. Airports were grouped according to size -- large (over 30 million passengers a year), medium (10-30 million passengers a year), and small (under 10 million passengers a year).

Here are the airports who scored above the average for their size group (with their score):

LARGE

1. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County (705)

2. Denver International (701)

2. Minneapolis-St. Paul International (701)

4. Orlando International (700)

5. Phoenix Sky Harbor International (699)

6. Charlotte Douglas International (697)

7. Dallas-Ft. Worth International (692)

8. George Bush Intercontinental/Houston (685)

9. McCarran International (682)

10. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (666)

10. Seattle-Tacoma International (666)

The following airports were below the average for their size group -- Toronto Pearson International (655), San Francisco International (647), Chicago O'Hare International (639), John F. Kennedy International (635), Philadelphia International (629), Miami International (617), Los Angeles International (616), Newark International (609).

MEDIUM

1. Kansas City International (742)

2. Portland (OR) International (733)

3. Tampa International (730)

4. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (713)

5. Salt Lake City International (712)

6. Calgary International (708)

7. Baltimore Washington International (707)

8. Oakland International (691)

9. Chicago Midway International (684)

10. Lambert St. Louis International (683)

The following airports were below the average for their size group -- Memphis International (682), San Diego International (678), Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International (677), Cleveland Hopkins International (675), Honolulu International (675), Reagan National International (672), Vancouver International (669), Dulles International (646), Boston Logan International (644), LaGuardia International (604).

SMALL

1. Indianapolis International (777)

2. Southwest Florida International (767)

3. Tucson International (755)

4. Jacksonville International (754)

5. Austin Bergstrom International (752)

6. T. F. Green Airport (750)

7. Palm Beach International (740)

8. Albuquerque International Sunport (735)

9. Pittsburgh International (729)

10. General Mitchell International (726)

The following airports were below the average for their size group -- Buffalo Niagara International (720), Nashville International (717), Port Columbus International (715), Raliegh-Durham International (715), Sacramento International (715), Bob Hope Airport (707), John Wayne Airport (706), Houston Hobby International (697), Bradley International (691), Reno/Tahoe International (689), Dallas Love Field (679), San Antonio International (677), Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (673), San Jose International (645).