Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston ranked third in the number of weapons found by the TSA in 2022.

Monica StanlyJanuary 20, 2023

FILE – A sign warns travelers not to carry weapons through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida, April 23, 2022. The federal agency tasked with screening passengers before boarding a plane says officers this year stopped a record number of weapons brought in by passengers trying to get through airport security checkpoints.

Transportation Security Administration agents found large numbers of firearms at Texas airports in 2022.

Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport reported 298 and 125 firearms found in carry-on baggage, respectively. Last year, Bush had the third-highest number of finds at US airports.

Both numbers are up from 2021, when 245 were found in IAH and 80 in Hobby.

Another Texas airport came in second on the list, with 385 finds at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport topped the list with 448 firearm finds, the most cases ever reported at any airport since the TSA’s inception.

Overall, Texas accounted for 20% of all guns found last year, and almost 90% of them were loaded. In 2022, 6,542 firearms were found in hand luggage, the highest number in more than a decade.

All firearms found are turned over to local airport law enforcement, and they determine what happens to the firearm and the traveler based on factors such as whether the firearm was loaded or whether ammunition was available.

Even if the traveler has a permit to carry a weapon, carrying a firearm in hand luggage is prohibited.

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