Denver International Airport remains one of the nation’s top hubs for Transportation Security Administration gun seizures, ranking fifth last year among U.S. airports through the end of November.
TSA says it had found 91 firearms at the airport’s checkpoints by the end of November and seized several more in December.
That’s already above DIA’s totals for 2015 (90 guns) and 2014 (70), when the airport ranked fourth and fifth respectively among security checkpoint firearms interceptions. “We’re already surpassing last year’s numbers,” said Larry Nau, who oversees the TSA’s Colorado operations.
Last year was the busiest on record for Denver’s airport, with more than 55 million passengers making their way through the hub. Heath Mongtomery, an airport spokesman, said a projected 57 million to 58 million passengers were expected to travel through DIA by the end of 2016.
Passengers face an average fine of $2,000-$3,000, depending on whether a seized gun is loaded, and a maximum civil penalty of $11,000 if caught with a gun at a security checkpoint. “Bringing a firearm through a checkpoint could be a very expensive mistake,” Nau said.
Firearms can be brought onto a plane if they are properly placed in checked baggage.
“Your firearms should go through your checked baggage,” Nau said. “They should be in a hard-side case. You need to declare those with the carrier.”
The TSA encourages passengers to check airline and TSA rules and restrictions before they head to the airport to avoid any issues.
Leading the pack for TSA gun seizures in 2016 are — in descending order — Dallas/Fort Worth International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Phoenix Sky Harbor International.
Dallas/Fort Worth International had 179 gun seizures through the end of November, TSA reports.
TSA also collects dozens of other prohibited items in passengers’ carry-on and checked luggage at DIA. That includes everything from replica or inert grenades to knives to throwing stars and even a blow torch.
Heading into the busy Christmas travel season, TSA officers talked to passengers at DIA before a table of seized items, including a stun gun made to look like a cell phone, mace and a fake liptstick holder that was really concealing a serrated knife.
Each month, TSA seizes about 13,000 pounds in prohibited metallic items at DIA and another 2,000 pounds of liquids and gels.
“The majority of the items that we do stop are for knives or oversized liquids,” said Harold McCurdy, lead TSA officer at the airport. “That’s why it’s very important before you leave your house to double check how you pack your bags. That will save you a lot of time. That will help us help you pass through DIA as quick as possible and with less stress.”
McCurdy says the majority of the time when a prohibited item is found by officers, it’s because a passenger has made a mistake. There are also some travelers who don’t fly often and simply don’t know the rules.
Towards the end of November, security officers found a replica of Negan’s “Lucille” baseball bat from the television show The Walking Dead in a carry-on bag at Atlanta’s airport. The bat was covered in rubber barbed wire and doused in fake blood. TSA says baseball bats are prohibited from carry-on bags and must be packed in checked luggage.
In 2015, the discovery in a checked bag of several novelty bottles of bath salts topped with wax-covered lids and fuses prompted a 20-minute evacuation at Denver International Airport. The bottles had “TNT” painted on them.
They looked like explosives, TSA says, but were really just wedding souvenirs with the bride and groom’s initials. The agency says bomb specialists were called in to clear the items.
“A firearm or any type of obvious threat, the checkpoint basically comes to a halt,” Nau said. “Not only the individual who made a mistake and left the item in the bag, that lane stops screening and everyone else in that lane is actually paying the price.”
