TSA: Here’s How Many Guns We Found Last Year At Chicago Airports

Over the years, we've seen multiple famous people get themselves into trouble by showing up at an airport and getting caught with a gun in one of their bags. Almost every one of those celebs have leaned on the same reason, or a variation of the same reason, for having a gun in their bag:

"I didn't know it was in there." Or, "I had tossed the gun in my carry-on bag after my last trip and I forgot it was still there."

As someone who was raised around, and has knowledge and familiarity with firearms, I've always found that excuse to be absolute and utter bullsh...um...nonsense.

Who throws a loaded gun into a carry-on bag at any time, let alone when you get home from a trip? Who in their right mind would not know where their loaded firearm was until they're standing in front of airport security?

Figures On Guns Found And Confiscated At Chicago's Two Airports, Released Yesterday By The TSA, Shows That Chicago's Midway Airport Set A Personal Record For Guns Found, And O'Hare Had Quite The Haul, Too

However, looking at the TSA numbers, I guess we can feel a little bit better knowing that people brought less guns to the airports than they did one year ago. Passengers at both Chicago airports brought firearms less frequently than the national average.

TSA officers recovered 72 firearms at O’Hare International Airport and 50 firearms at Midway International Airport in 2023:

At ORD (O'Hare), TSA screened nearly 28.5 million departing passengers and crew in 2023, making it the third-busiest airport for TSA security checkpoint screening operations. TSA officers at ORD discovered firearms in carry-on luggage at a rate of 2.5 firearms per million passengers screened. This calculates to a rate of one firearm discovery for every 395,771 travelers screened.

 

At MDW (Midway), TSA screened 7.3 million departing passengers and crew in 2023. TSA officers there discovered firearms in carry-on luggage at a rate of 6.8 firearms per million passengers screened. This calculates to a rate of one firearm discovery for every 146,548 travelers screened.