ATL broke record for total number of firearms arrested at airports last year

CST stopped more weapons at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta than at any other US airport in 2021.

Driving the news: Nationally, the TSA prevented nearly 6,000 firearms from passing through airport security. This is the highest number in the TSA’s two-decade history.

Details: The TSA stopped 507 weapons at ATL in 2021, setting a record for a single airport that ATL already held (323 weapons in 2019). Second place last year went to Dallas-Fort Worth with 317.

• The TSA reports that 86% of firearms were loaded. A spokesperson tells Axios that the vast majority of people say they just forgot their gun.

The big picture: That equates to one gun for every nearly 98,000 passengers in the country. In 2019, the statistic was one firearm for every 197,000 passengers.

• Atlanta has been the top airport for arrested weapons in eight of the past nine years.

The context: In Georgia, it is legal for a person with a firearms license to carry a firearm in public areas of commercial airports such as the waiting area or the aisle.

• It is illegal to transport a person past the checkpoint.

To note : While the final version of Governor Brian Kemp’s gun rights expansion remains unclear, the proposals currently being introduced would not affect rules at commercial airports.