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Atlanta airport to set record for confiscated weapons

ATLANTA — Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is on track to set a record for catching people trying to bring guns through airport security.

As of Thanksgiving week, Transportation Security Administration officials found 98 passengers attempting to bring guns through security, and the busy travel time is just beginning.

In all of 2012, officials caught 96 guns in carry on luggage in Atlanta.

"The good thing about this is it shows that TSA is doing a really good job," said Louis Miller, aviation general manager at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Miller recently put up large signs by each security checkpoint putting a red "x" through pictures of prohibited weapons. Atlanta leads the nation in guns caught at airport security.

"You can have a gun in your checked luggage, but you have to declare that. And you have to tell the airline it is in your checked luggage and it can't be loaded," Miller said.

Miller is unsure why passengers in Atlanta continue to bring the guns but cites the possibility of more relaxed guns laws in the South compared to other parts of the nation.

In 2012, TSA security officials also found thousands of other prohibited items in passengers' checked bags, including: 849 knives, 106 flammable products and 206 box cutters.

"I am surprised with what people think they can get away with," traveler Rami Heerah said.

"Even if you are licensed to have a weapon, you cannot take it to the security checkpoint. Just remember that and don't do it," Miller said.