2 more guns seized at Atlanta airport

ATLANTA — Two more metro Atlanta residents are accused of trying to bring guns onto planes at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
     
It's part of a trend the government says is up 30 percent nationwide, and Atlanta leads the nation. According to the Transportation Security Administration, one in 15 guns that were seized at checkpoints nationwide last year occurred in the city.

On Friday, authorities gave Channel 2's Tony Thomas an exclusive look at all the types of weapons they've seized so far.

There were 100 incidents in Atlanta last year, and 58 so far this year. This week, the TSA said Kennesaw resident Greg Arcemont brought a loaded .45-caliber weapon to a checkpoint and hours before, Smyrna resident Kristopher Lamey is accused of having a gun in his carry-on bag.

"What we will hear most typically from passengers is that they will indicate they forgot," the TSA's Jon Allen told Thomas.

Friends of both Cobb County men accused this week said that was the case with them too.

And the TSA seizes more than just guns.

Allen showed Thomas a tool saying, "This is designed to appear like a credit card. It actually opens up into a knife."

There were also several large knives, brass knuckles, hammers and other tools.

The TSA said weapons seizures are the highest in the Southeast and the West, where laws allow residents to more freely carry guns.

By contrast, in New York, which has tighter laws, there was only one gun seized last year at John F. Kennedy Airport.

WSBTV